The Fusion Reactor
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SUMMER SCHOOL is PHYSICS P H V S 1 C S AMP I Hf £ V E V. G V I N V U S T P. V January, 1974 School of Physical Sciences The Flinders University of South Australia Bedford Park, S.A. 5042. PREFACE The 1974 Summer School in Physics followed the format of the last two Schools, dealing in depth with a particular area of physics;. The topic chosen for the School was "Physics and the energy industry"; a topic which has many points of contact with the Leaving and Matriculation physics courses and one which allows the teacher to demonstrate the important role physics has played, and will play, in the development of society. HIIL. volume contains notes prepared by the lecturers at the School; the notes follow fairly closely the actual presentation of naterial. The table of contents indicates the order in which the lectures were given; for convenience of presentation here, we have combined the three lectures given by Dr. Symonds on "Fission Reactors" and also the two lectures given by Dr. Jones on "Some topics ii> plasma physics". These latter lectures are not intended to provide a comprehensive introduction to plasma physics; they are intended only to provide the essential background material for the lectures on M.H.D. power generation and the fusion reactor. It is important to note that the material presented does not attempt to cover the whole range of the energy industry - for example, fuel cells are excluded from detailed consideration. These omissions are not intended to imply a judgment of the relative importance of the various energy conversion processes and fuels but, rather, reflect the bias of the School towards the contribution Physics makes to the energy industry. It is a pleasure to thank all the lecturers of the School and particularly the two contributors from interstate: Professor D.W. George, University of Sydney, and Dr. J.L. Symonds, Australian Atomic Energy Commission. The School was supported by the South Australian Department of Education and the Australian Institute of Physics (S.A. Branch). M.H. Brennan School of Physical Sciences The Flinders University of South Australia C n S' r F. N T S Lecture ['he energy crisis Professor M.H. Brennan The Flinders University of South Australia Con vent ion.i I elec t ric i ty Professor D.W. George generation The University of Sydney 3,4,5 Fission reactors Dr. J.L. Sywonds Australian Atomic Energy Commission 6,8 Supf topics in Plasma Physics Dr. I.R. Jones The Flinders University of South Australia 7 M.H.D. power fienera'.ion Professor D.W. George 9 1 1 The fus ' !! reactor Professor M.H. Brennan 10 Knergy from the sun Dr. M.G.R. Phillips The Flinders University of South Australia 11 The collection and conversion Dr. E.L. Murray of solar energy The Flinders University of South Australia Appendix A selection of films on the energy industry . 1. THE ENERGY CRISIS 1. Patterns in energy consumption M.H. Brennan Man as a biological system needs about 2,000 k cal/day to sustain life. Modern man, in tlio h i gh—terhnolugy society of the United States, consumes roughly one hundred tittups this amount. This enornous appetite for onergv has le.il us to wli.it is commonlv referred to as "the energy crisis". I would like lo ex.isaiiw the nature of the crisis an.1 '-" discuss, in rather general ti'ros, the wavs in which wu can Lackle the problems arising from it. The growth in man's appetite for energy over the ages is shown in Figure I. We see the growth from primitive man, through agricultural man — the introduction of faming, water and wind power, animal transport, through industrial man of the. late 19th century -- the advent of the steam engine, to modern technological man and the whole gamut of his energy usage from the electric toothbrush to the jet aircraft. At the top of the Figure are indicated the major areas of activity and their demands on our sources of energy. We see that there are three- major areas that can be distinguished — domestic and commercial, industry and agriculture, and transportation. The division, which is made for the United States of America, corresponds very closely with the figures for Australia released in 1972 by the Department of National Development. One notes the large energy consumption in transportation, which accounts for approximately 27% of the total and the similarly large amount of energy consumed in slectricity production. These figures are very close to those for Australia. This range of energy consumption through the ages can be seen, compressed into a moment of time, when we look at the present-day consumption of energy and its relation to the gross national product (Figure 2). This correlation has resulted in a small number of people consuming a very large amount of our resources. The United States alone accounts for approximately 35' of the world's annual consumption of energy. Note that Figure 2 refers :o "commercial" energy consumption which, for developed countries like the United States (.ind Australia), represents approximately half the total energy con-.ur-.pt ion. It is also import :>.! to note ih.it Figure 2 shows the present situation; it offers no guide to what r.ir.ht hf considered to he the ideal, or the future, correlation between iT.ori". •. onsun;' t i on and gross national product. Indeed, there are many people who believe that t 'ie developed countries will be forced to reduce t'ueir per capita energy c. nsuni't ion; the reduction forced by the present oil shortage is a foretaste o: things to come. Any significant reduction in per capita energy consumption will certainly affect our life-style. The world's total consumption of energy, in the past and projected through to the year 2000, is shown in Table 1. The unit used here is the Q (101B Btu = 10"* Joule). It is of interest to note that the projected world consumption at the rate of 1 0 for the year 2000 corn nds to an average per capita rate: of approximately ...no- , i rd the current U.S. figure — not an unreasonable target for the less developed countries. The growth from 0.3 Q in 19/0 to 1 Q in 2000 corresponds to an annual growth rate of about 6%. We also note that the growth for the U.S. during this period is expected to be significantly less than this figure. TABLE 1 Annual cor.sumpt ion^ of energy in Q* Year World U.S. Austra1ia 1800 0.006 0.001 1900 0.03 0.01 19 70 0.3 0.1 0.002 2000 1 0.2 0.006 * 1 Q = 1018Btu ~ 1OZ1 Joule = 3 x 101" kWh •j- The figures are drawn from a number of sources, but primarily from C. Starr (Scientific American, September 1971) .3. FOODi HOME A\ J CO v1MEf CE •" AUD AGRICULTURE TRANjPORTATIOt; t I I 1 i TEOCOLOGOU!. til MAM l*r# /''/fa i i i i i / .^ ^ -]~ ;M ft*:j 1 / A.:-;<. t .:. k'.V, V.-V; J. -LJ . i ; 1 ( : t ML". ••'.:• '.'•>'. i.. j DA...Y PCr"? CAr.TA CON5L IIMI.Y ilONM.Mt'TION „! ,-m-r;y per rapila has ralrulalril liy ing rrops and lud pained animal encrpv. Advjnrcd azriciilturiil Ilic- .intlinr tor >i\ >-t.<^t-^ in huiiuui ilevclopiiu'at (and uttii an ac- man inorthwestern Europe in A.n. 11001 had tome coal for healing, curaiy th.it iliirr.i-r» uilli ,iiiiii|iiiiyl. Primitive man (Karl Africa tonic v atcr power and wind power and animal transport. imm>uial al'tmt l.tHili.lltlll year- apn) iiilhtiut the use oi fire had only the cn- man (in England in 18751 had the Eteam enpinc. In lf70 teclinologi- mty ill the fond he jle. lluuliuj; m.m (Europe aliout IDO.flUO years cal man (in ihe U.S.I consumed 230,000 kilocalories per day. much iil^ni lj.ul ninru fuotl i'nd also hiirncd ^vood for heat and cooking, of it in form of electricity \hntchctl area). Food is divided into l'riiiuiitc .i^rirultur.il man ll'Vrtilc Crescent in 5000 D.C.) was grow- plant foods l/'ir fa!') and animal foods (or foods fed to ani">iU). FIGURE 1 Growth In man's consumption of energy (from E. Cook, Scientif-i: American, September, 197')- i 5,... i CA'.ADA • • AUSTRALIA • GERMANY 5WEDEN • — - • - .' " ...... ... / • DENMARK / •NORWAY '.NEThE^ANDS -'-••" "^ ^' sot * • FRANCE t s' 1 j • NEW ZEALAND 5-, «.o •-» A • / j 1 i RCV.AN • JAPAN A • / • ITALY = x CC • % i 1 *CH, _= YJG 7 i • wS^AV A OUR •GUAY \ CD-CV^A* • G^i I 5RA- ^oA ^ t '•DA »Qr A\A i 2.000 J.soo G-:JS5 \i*'C\AL PRODUCT {DOLLARS PER CAPITA) ROUGH COriRFL \T!ON 1U".»C.TI per capiu-consumplion of en- plotted for the U.S. is considered to eetablitb an arbitrary line," cr;y .-.r.J pro=- r.jiiur.jl \.:adaii i3 fccn wl.cn the two arc i/iof.cd tome countries fall above or below that line. ThU appears lo be !o;eiher; in fcucrjl, lujli per rjpi:a energy cunsumplion is a pro- related '.o a country's economic level, ill emphasis on heavy indue- requisite for iii;h ouipui of -aoii and services. If the- position try or on eervicca and Us efficiency in converting energy into work. FIGURE 2 Correlation between consumption of energy and gross national product (from E. Cook, Scientific American, September 1971).