ATOMKI Közlemények 25. (1983)
1. szám - D. Berényi: Research on atomic collision processes and its importance for future energy sources
- solar energy (heat, mechanical energy, electricty from solar energy) - wind - biomass - tidel and wave power - thermal pcwer of the see - geothermal heat and finally - controlled thermonuclear fusion. In addition, the storage and transmission of energy are also investigated intensively. Nevertheless, all these new sources of energy do not mean a real alternative in meeting all the energy claims during the next two decades. Even after 2000 the controlled fusion seems to be the only candidate which would be able to become the primary energy source for the mankind in the long run. 1.3. Realization of the controlled thermonuclear energy production. As a function of1 the years, there is a continuous progress in the direction of the realization of self-sustaining thermonuclear process i.e. towards achieving thermonuclear energy production using the process 2H + Зн-4Не (3>52 MeV) + n (14.06 MeV) which seams to be the most promising of several possible fusion reactions. (See some details e.g. in ref. 5-7.). Two main approaches are investigated for the realisation of the controlled fusion processes. One of them is the magnetic confinement where the fusion reactions of deuterium and tritium are produced in a magnetically confined plasma. In the inertial confinement, which is the other main approach, deuterium and tritium are compressed to a small pellet of very high density and temperature bv verv intense laser ]i pht on oharppd particle beam. In both directions different actual devices have been designed. To realize a self-sustaining fusion process, and still more, a fusion reactor, different serious scientific and technological problems should be solved. Most of these problems, however, are connected with the phenomena of the ion-solid interactions and the ion-atom collisions (or more broadly the atomic collision processes). The latter will be treated in some detail in the followings. As regards the ion-solid interactions, the requirements are very high for the fusion reactor materials in general, including the interactions concerned (cf. e.g. the "first wall" effects). The literature on the related effects and phenomena is rather rich, here only the Proceedings of the Second Conference on Surface Effects in Controlled Fusion Devices are referred.^ It seems to be quite proper here to emphasize the importance of the high vacuum in all these devices. The 10“^ torn is a minimum requirement^ but a 10“^ torr or better as a background pressure is not an uncustomary requirement in this field. 2. The role of atomic collisions in the controlled fusion devices 2.1. Magnetic confinement. Most of the efforts for the realization of controlled thermonuclear processes have been applied to devices with magnetic confinement (tokamaks, magnetic mirrors etc.). In the following some of the most important processes in these devices will be shortly surveyed. Here the atomic collision phenomena are playing an important role. To design and control all these processes in the devices, the knowledge of the cross-sections and other features of the atomic collision interactions and the mechanism of them (e.g. ionization, excitation, charge changing, stripping etc.) is indispensable. (See e.g. ref. 7 and 9-11.)