Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!faqserv From: Robert F. Heeter Newsgroups: sci.physics.fusion,sci.energy,sci.physics,sci.environment,sci.answers,news.answers Subject: Conventional Fusion FAQ Section 0/11 (Intro) Part 1/3 (Overview) Supersedes: Followup-To: sci.physics.fusion Date: 6 Apr 1998 13:00:48 GMT Organization: Princeton University Lines: 429 Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Distribution: world Expires: 5 May 1998 12:44:16 GMT Message-ID: Reply-To: rfheeter@pppl.gov NNTP-Posting-Host: penguin-lust.mit.edu Summary: Fusion energy represents a promising alternative to fossil fuels and nuclear fission for world energy production. This FUT is a compendium of Frequently Used Terms in plasma physics and fusion energy research. Refer to the FAQ on Conventional Fusion for more detailed info about topics in fusion research. This FUT does NOT discuss unconventional forms of fusion (like Cold Fusion). X-Last-Updated: 1995/02/26 Originator: faqserv@penguin-lust.MIT.EDU Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu sci.physics.fusion:36433 sci.energy:84256 sci.physics:311059 sci.environment:167679 sci.answers:8072 news.answers:127131 Archive-name: fusion-faq/section0-intro/part1-overview Last-modified: 26-Feb-1995 Posting-frequency: More-or-less-biweekly Disclaimer: While this section is still evolving, it should be useful to many people, and I encourage you to distribute it to anyone who might be interested (and willing to help!!!). ----------------------------------------------------------------- ### Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Fusion Research ----------------------------------------------------------------- # Written/Edited by: Robert F. Heeter Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory # Last Revised February 26, 1995 ----------------------------------------------------------------- *** A. Welcome to the Conventional Fusion FAQ! ----------------------------------------------------------------- * 1) Contents This file is intended to indicate (A) that the Conventional Fusion FAQ exists, (B) what it discusses, (C) how to find it on the Internet, and (D) the status of the Fusion FAQ project * 2) What is the Conventional Fusion FAQ? The Conventional Fusion FAQ is a comprehensive, relatively nontechnical set of answers to many of the frequently asked questions about fusion science, fusion energy, and fusion research. Additionally, there is a Glossary of Frequently Used Terms In Plasma Physics and Fusion Energy Research, which explains much of the jargon of the field. The Conventional Fusion FAQ originated as an attempt to provide answers to many of the typical, basic, or introductory questions about fusion research, and to provide a listing of references and other resources for those interested in learning more. The Glossary section containing Frequently Used Terms (FUT) also seeks to facilitate communication regarding fusion by providing brief explanations of the language of the field. * 3) Scope of the Conventional Fusion FAQ: Note that this FAQ discusses only the conventional forms of fusion (primarily magnetic confinement, but also inertial and muon-catalyzed), and not new/unconventional forms ("cold fusion", sonoluminescence-induced fusion, or ball-lightning fusion). I have tried to make this FAQ as uncontroversial and comprehensive as possible, while still covering everything I felt was important / standard fare on the sci.physics.fusion newsgroup. * 4) How to Use the FAQ: This is a rather large FAQ, and to make it easier to find what you want, I have outlined each section (including which questions are answered) in Section 0, Part 2 (posted separately). Hopefully it will not be too hard to use. Part (C) below describes how to find the other parts of the FAQ via FTP or the World-Wide Web. * 5) Claims and Disclaimers: This is an evolving document, not a completed work. As such, it may not be correct or up-to-date in all respects. This document should not be distributed for profit, especially without my permission. Individual sections may have additional restrictions. In no case should my name, the revision date, or this paragraph be removed. - Robert F. Heeter -------------------------------------------------------------------- *** B. Contents (Section Listing) of the Conventional Fusion FAQ -------------------------------------------------------------------- ***************************************************************** What This FAQ Discusses ***************************************************************** (Each of these sections is posted periodically on sci.physics.fusion. Section 0.1 is posted biweekly, the other parts are posted quarterly. Each listed part is posted as a separate file.) Section 0 - Introduction Part 1/3 - Title Page Table of Contents How to Find the FAQ Current Status of the FAQ project Part 2/3 - Detailed Outline with List of Questions Part 3/3 - Revision History Section 1 - Fusion as a Physical Phenomenon Section 2 - Fusion as an Energy Source Part 1/5 - Technical Characteristics Part 2/5 - Environmental Characteristics Part 3/5 - Safety Characteristics Part 4/5 - Economic Characteristics Part 5/5 - Fusion for Space-Based Power Section 3 - Fusion as a Scientific Research Program Part 1/3 - Chronology of Events and Ideas Part 2/3 - Major Institutes and Policy Actors Part 3/3 - History of Achievements and Funding Section 4 - Methods of Containment / Approaches to Fusion Part 1/2 - Toroidal Magnetic Confinement Approaches Part 2/2 - Other Approaches (ICF, muon-catalyzed, etc.) Section 5 - Status of and Plans for Present Devices Section 6 - Recent Results Section 7 - Educational Opportunities Section 8 - Internet Resources Section 9 - Future Plans Section 10 - Annotated Bibliography / Reading List Section 11 - Citations and Acknowledgements Glossary of Frequently Used Terms (FUT) in Plasma Physics & Fusion: Part 0/26 - Intro Part 1/26 - A Part 2/26 - B [ ... ] Part 26/26 - Z --------------------------------------------------------------- *** C. How to find the Conventional Fusion FAQ on the 'Net: --------------------------------------------------------------- ***************************************************************** ### The FAQ about the FAQ: ### How can I obtain a copy of a part of the Fusion FAQ? ***************************************************************** * 0) Quick Methods (for Experienced Net Users) (A) World-Wide Web: http://lyman.pppl.gov/~rfheeter/fusion-faq.html (B) FTP: rtfm.mit.edu in /pub/usenet-by-group/sci.answers/fusion-faq * 1) Obtaining the Fusion FAQ from Newsgroups Those of you reading this on news.answers, sci.answers, sci.energy, sci.physics, or sci.environment will be able to find the numerous sections of the full FAQ by reading sci.physics.fusion periodically. (Please note that not all sections are completed yet.) Because the FAQ is quite large, most sections are posted only every three months, to avoid unnecessary consumption of bandwidth. All sections of the FAQ which are ready for "official" distribution are posted to sci.physics.fusion, sci.answers, and news.answers, so you can get them from these groups by waiting long enough. * 2) World-Wide-Web (Mosaic, Netscape, Lynx, etc.): Several Web versions now exist. The "official" one is currently at We hope to have a version on the actual PPPL Web server () soon. There are other sites which have made "unofficial" Web versions from the newsgroup postings. I haven't hunted all of these down yet, but I know a major one is at this address: Note that the "official" one will include a number of features which cannot be found on the "unofficial" ones created by automated software from the newsgroup postings. In particular we hope to have links through the outline directly to questions, and between vocabulary words and their entries in the Glossary, so that readers unfamiliar with the terminology can get help fast. (Special acknowledgements to John Wright at PPPL, who is handling much of the WWW development.) * 3) FAQ Archives at FTP Sites (Anonymous FTP) - Intro All completed sections can also be obtained by anonymous FTP from various FAQ archive sites, such as rtfm.mit.edu. The address for this archive is: Please note that sections which are listed above as having multiple parts (such as the glossary, and section 2) are stored in subdirectories, where each part has its own filename; e.g., /fusion-faq/glossary/part0-intro. Please note also that there are other locations in the rtfm filespace where fusion FAQ files are stored, but the reference given above is the easiest to use. There are a large number of additional FAQ archive sites, many of which carry the fusion FAQ. These are listed below. * 4) Additional FAQ archives worldwide (partial list) There are other FAQ archive sites around the world which one can try if rtfm is busy; a list is appended at the bottom of this file. * 5) Mail Server If you do not have direct access by WWW or FTP, the rtfm.mit.edu site supports "ftp by mail": send a message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the following 3 lines in it (cut-and-paste if you like): send usenet-by-group/sci.answers/fusion-faq/section0-intro/part1-overview send usenet-by-group/sci.answers/fusion-faq/section0-intro/part2-outline quit The mail server will send these two introductory files to you. You can then use the outline (part2) to determine which files you want. You can receive any or all of the remaining files by sending another message with the same general format, if you substitute the file archive names you wish to receive, in place of the part "fusion-faq/section0-intro/part1-overview", etc. used above. * 6) Additional Note / Disclaimer: Not all sections of the FAQ have been written yet, nor have they all been "officially" posted. Thus, you may not find what you're looking for right away. Sections which are still being drafted are only posted to sci.physics.fusion. If there's a section you can't find, send me email and I'll let you know what's up with it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *** D. Status of the Conventional Fusion FAQ Project ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * 1) Written FAQ Sections: Most sections have been at least drafted, but many sections are still being written. Sections 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 4.2, and 9 remain to be completed. Those sections which have been written could use revising and improving. I am trying to obtain more information, especially on devices and confinement approaches; I'm also looking for more information on international fusion research, especially in Japan & Russia. *** I'd love any help you might be able to provide!! *** * 2) Building a Web Version A "primitive" version (which has all the posted data, but isn't especially aesthetic) exists now. Would like to add graphics and cross-references to the Glossary, between FAQ sections, and to other internet resources (like laboratory Web pages). * 3) Nuts & Bolts - I'm looking for ways to enhance the distribution of the FAQ, and to get additional volunteer help for maintenance and updates. We are in the process of switching to automated posting via the rtfm.mit.edu faq posting daemon. * 4) Status of the Glossary: # Contains roughly 1000 entries, including acronyms, math terms, jargon, etc. # Just finished incorporating terms from the "Glossary of Fusion Energy" published in 1985 by the Dept. of Energy's Office of Scientific and Technical Information. # Also working to improve technical quality of entries (more formal.) # World Wide Web version exists, hope to cross-reference to FAQ. # Hope to have the Glossary "officially" added to PPPL Web pages. # Hope to distribute to students, policymakers, journalists, scientists, i.e., to anyone who needs a quick reference to figure out what we're really trying to say, or to decipher all the "alphabet soup." Scientists need to remember that not everyone knows those "trivial" words we use every day. The glossary and FAQ should be useful in preparing for talks to lay audiences. Students will also find it useful to be able to look up unfamiliar technical jargon. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- *** E. Appendix: List of Additional FAQ Archive Sites Worldwide ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (The following information was excerpted from the "Introduction to the *.answers newsgroups" posting on news.answers, from Sept. 9, 1994.) Other news.answers/FAQ archives (which carry some or all of the FAQs in the rtfm.mit.edu archive), sorted by country, are: [ Note that the connection type is on the left. I can't vouch for the fusion FAQ being on all of these, but it should be on some. - Bob Heeter ] Belgium ------- gopher cc1.kuleuven.ac.be port 70 anonymous FTP cc1.kuleuven.ac.be:/anonymous.202 mail-server listserv@cc1.kuleuven.ac.be get avail faqs Canada ------ gopher jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca port 70 Finland ------- anonymous ftp ftp.funet.fi/pub/doc/rtfm France ------ anonymous FTP grasp1.insa-lyon.fr:/pub/faq grasp1.insa-lyon.fr:/pub/faq-by-newsgroup gopher gopher.insa-lyon.fr, port 70 mail server listserver@grasp1.univ-lyon1.fr Germany ------- anonymous ftp ftp.Germany.EU.net:/pub/newsarchive/news.answers ftp.informatik.uni-muenchen.de:/pub/comp/usenet/news.answers ftp.uni-paderborn.de:/doc/FAQ ftp.saar.de:/pub/usenet/news.answers (local access only) gopher gopher.Germany.EU.net, port 70. gopher.uni-paderborn.de mail server archive-server@Germany.EU.net ftp-mailer@informatik.tu-muenchen.de ftp-mail@uni-paderborn.de World Wide Web http://www.Germany.EU.net:80/ FSP ftp.Germany.EU.net, port 2001 gopher index gopher://gopher.Germany.EU.net:70/1.archive gopher://gopher.uni-paderborn.de:70/0/Service/FTP Korea ----- anonymous ftp hwarang.postech.ac.kr:/pub/usenet/news.answers Mexico ------ anonymous ftp mtecv2.mty.itesm.mx:/pub/usenet/news.answers The Netherlands --------------- anonymous ftp ftp.cs.ruu.nl:/pub/NEWS.ANSWERS gopher gopher.win.tue.nl, port 70 mail server mail-server@cs.ruu.nl Sweden ------ anonymous ftp ftp.sunet.se:/pub/usenet Switzerland ----------- anonymous ftp ftp.switch.ch:/info_service/usenet/periodic-postings anonymous UUCP chx400:ftp/info_service/Usenet/periodic-postings mail server archiver-server@nic.switch.ch telnet nic.switch.ch, log in as "info" Taiwan ------ anonymous ftp ftp.edu.tw:/USENET/FAQ mail server ftpmail@ftp.edu.tw United Kingdon -------------- anonymous ftp src.doc.ic.ac.uk:/usenet/news-faqs/ FSP src.doc.ic.ac.uk port 21 gopher src.doc.ic.ac.uk port 70. mail server ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk telnet src.doc.ic.ac.uk login as sources World Wide Web http://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/usenet/news-faqs/ United States ------------- anonymous ftp ftp.uu.net:/usenet World Wide Web http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu:80/hypertext/faq/usenet/top.html