Fusion: The Energy of the Universe, 2e is an essential reference providing basic principles of fusion energy from its history to the issues and realities progressing from the present day energy crisis. The book provides detailed developments and applications for researchers entering the field of fusion energy research. This second edition includes the latest results from the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at Livermore, CA, and the progress on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) tokamak programme at Caderache, France.

Comprehensive coverage- basic principles, detailed developments and practical applications
Wide accessibility, but with sufficient detail to keep the technical reader engaged
Details the initial discovery of nuclear fusion, current attempts to create nuclear fusion here on earth and today's concern over future energy supply
Color illustrations and examples
Includes technical notes for aspiring physicists

Auteur

Garry McCracken gained a PhD in solid state physics but has spent most of his working life as an experimental physicist working on various aspects of the magnetic confinement fusion program with the UK Atomic Energy Authority at Culham Laboratory. His main interest has been in the study of the plasma boundary and in the interaction between the plasma and the surrounding structures and in studying the design of fusion reactors and the radiation damage problems which may be encountered. In 1979 he spent a year at the Plasma Physics Laboratory of Princeton University, USA, where he worked on the Princeton Large Tokamak. When the JET Joint Undertaking was set up as a European Fusion Laboratory to build the JET experiment he led a Task Agreement on the plasma boundary physics. His group built and installed major diagnostics on JET and an active experimental programme was pursued. In 1993 he went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA and worked on the C-Mod tokamak in the Plasma Fusion Center. Returning to the UK in 1996 to work again on JET, until his retirement in 1999. He has published over 300 scientific papers including three major reviews in the general area of plasma-surface interactions. He was a regular lecturer at the Culham Plasma Physics Summer School until 1991 and has been invited to lecture at a number of other Summer school courses in Canada and Europe. During these latter lectures he began to feel that there was no adequate book to explain the subject of nuclear fusion to the staring physicist and engineer or the interested layman and set about writing the present book.

Contenu

What is Nuclear fusion? 2. Energy from Mass 3. Fusion in the Sun and Stars 4. Man-Made Fusion 5. Magnetic Confinement 6. The Hydrogen Bomb 7. Inertial Confinement Fusion 8. False Trails 9. Tokamaks 10. From T3 to ITER 11. ITER 12. Large Inertial Confinement Systems 13. Fusion Power Plants 14. Why We Will Need Fusion Energy