Here is the link to the IEEE Region 4 YouTube of this event: https://youtu.be/9g4JKeO4LvA

Here is a copy of the chat:

Chat – Fusion Energy Prospects

Q: Sharan Kalwani - IEEE SE Michigan: What is the topology of the blanket that Sarah spoke about?

A:  Sara Ferry: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pWIjr9vWlUocYuoDUqzEZHK_iFs5lCLc/view?usp=sharing

This poster describes LIBRA, the experiment we are building to test the LIB (liquid immersion blanket) for ARC. There is a picture of ARC and the LIB in the left hand section (picture A)

Comment: Sandy Rotter:
Fusion Energy,Solar Flares and Black Holes in the Wisconsin Plasma Physics Lab Cary Forest, 03/02/22 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TD7Z2RHbEDM

Selected Fusion Energy Research at UW-Madison. Steffi Diem. WN@TL 2020.12.16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjcWLUUYoqw

Q: Feng Lin: How dangerous will it be if an accident occurs in a fusion power plant?

Q: Jonathan Winters:

Are there EE undergraduate internship positions available to work on fusion research?

Q: Rich Hobson:

What are the byproducts/waste products of fusion?

Q: Mike Stemper:

Gravitational confinement was mentioned and dismissed (rightly so). Three different types of magnetic confinement were discussed in some detail. Would any of the panelists be willing to discuss the status and prospects of inertial confinement?

Q: Craig Anderson:

For Luquant:  The stellarator that you shared, is that a photo?  What are the overall dimensions of that stellarator?

For all:  How large would a commercial fusion power plant need to be by comparison?

A: KUNAL SANWALKA:

Craig- I think the size really depends on which confinement scheme you are exploring.

Speaking about mirrors, a 200MW class powerplant would have a plasma that is 200m long and 1m in radius. The vessel itself would be a bit larger and the infrastructure around the vessel larger still.

Sara Ferry: https://usfusionenergy.org/about-us

Sara Ferry:

US Fusion Energy has a searchable database of internship and job opportunities. Undergrads and graduate students should also make sure to look into the Nuclear Innovation Bootcamp, SULI, MSRP, and PFURO summer programs.

Comment: Daniel Swanson:

Just a tip from a Mechanical Engineering Professor with a PhD in Nuclear Engineering...Sadly, Nuclear Energy is probably going to be a long ways off in terms of adoption/usage.  A more immediate need exists for Nuclear Medical Devices.  Here's a link to a pdf that talks a lot about the future needs of the nuclear medical industry: https://www.dropbox.com/s/c6gz30ueis6nvf9/medical-devices-2030.pdf?dl=0

Q: Tom Kaminski:

Please comment on: The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA–E) is considering issuing a new Exploratory Topic to solicit applications for financial assistance in pursuit of hypotheses-driven approaches toward realizing diagnostic evidence of Low-Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR).  Presumably to answer the question: “should this field move forward given that LENR could be a potentially transformative carbon-free energy source, or does it conclusively not show promise?”

Q: Jonathan Winters:

Does the magnetic mirror also result in neutrons absorbed into materials the way a Tokamak does?

Comments: ZANDER NOEL KEITH:

Economics of fusion: Potential early markets for fusion energy: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2101.09150.pdf

Lawson Criterion: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2105.10954.pdf

Tritium breeding and blanket design:

LIBRA paper: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/15361055.2022.2078136

HSX:

Optimized Stellarators: https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/68874

QHS Stellarators:

https://hsx.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/747/2021/12/Advancing-the-physics-basis-for-quasi-helically-symmetric-stellarators_Bader_et-al_2020.pdf

Upgrade: https://hsx.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/747/2016/02/DTAnderson_APS-2014.pdf

WHAM: ARPA-E presentation: https://arpa-e.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2020-09/Day1_1405_UWM_Forest.pdf

SPARC: Overview of the SPARC physics basis: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1741-4326/ac1654/pdf

Comment: Tom Kaminski to Everyone:

ARPA-E LENR Workshop: https://arpa-e.energy.gov/events/low-energy-nuclear-reactions-workshop

Comment: DIONYSI DAMASKOPOULOS:

https://cfs.energy/19:16:37

Comment: DIONYSI DAMASKOPOULOS:

https://www.iter.org/

Comment: KUNAL SANWALKA:

It is also important to note that most research Tokamaks do not try and break triple product records for most of their research time. They work on (among other things) taming and understanding various plasma instabilities and the effectiveness of the different heating schemes

Q: Jonathan Winters:

Are there specific research opportunities working on means to decrease the neutron absorption of materials?  And, would the radioactivity of present or theoretical materials end up being as dangerous as fission?  Sorry.  Thanks!

Panelist emails:

DIONYSI DAMASKOPOULOS: dionysi.damaskopoulos@wisc.edu

KUNAL SANWALKA: sanwalka@wisc.edu

ZANDER NOEL KEITH: zkeith@wisc.edu

LUQUANT SINGH: lsingh2@wisc.edu