Plasma Science and Fusion Center IAP Series
Peter Catto, Abhay Ram, John Rice, Paul Rivenberg
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Participants welcome at individual sessions (series)
This series introduces plasma physics research and areas of related interest at the Plasma Science and Fusion Center. See URL below.
Web: http://www.psfc.mit.edu/
Contact: Paul Rivenberg, NW16-284, x3-8101, rivenberg@psfc.mit.edu
Sponsor: Plasma Science and Fusion Center
Using models to study climate
John Marshall
An approach to the study of climate that emphasizes modeling hierarchies, but based on a common set of modeling tools. Prof. Marshall will illustrate some of the science that such models facilitate in the context of paleo climate (focusing on the past 50 million years), exploring, for example, whether more than one stable climate might exist for a given external forcing.
Tue Jan 18, 11am-12:00pm, NW17-218
Climate change, nuclear proliferation and fusion energy
Rob Goldston Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Nuclear power may be needed to provide about 30% of electric power production due to the scale-up limitations of renewable resources and carbon sequestration. Here we examine scenarios based on once-through fission, once-through fission followed by fast spectrum fission, and once-through fission followed by fusion.
Tue Jan 18, 03-04:00pm, NW17-218
Fifty Years of Fusion
Dale Meade Fusion Innovation Research and Energy (FIRE)
A look at the challenges and key events that have marked the search for a fusion powered heat source over the past 50 years - a search that has led recently to the initiation of two major fusion energy facilities: the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in inertial fusion and the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in magnetic fusion.
Wed Jan 19, 11am-12:00pm, NW17-218
An Alcator chronicle, or What happened to Alcator B?
Ron Parker
Fusion research at MIT has been underway for nearly 40 years. This talk will review some highlights of the history of the Alcator program, emphasizing the early days when data were taken with polaroid film, diagnostics were few and relatively crude, and the results played a major role in establishing the scientific feasibility of fusion energy.
Wed Jan 19, 03-04:00pm, NW17-218
The challenge of fusion burn and ITER
Steven Cowley Culham Center for Fusion Energy
In the next decade ITER will reach fusion burning conditions - the realization of decades of research. Steve Cowley will discuss the challenges associated with the physics of burning plasmas and what this means for fusion power.
Thu Jan 20, 11am-12:00pm, NW17-218
Recreating deep interior states of planets and stars in the laboratory
Rip Collins Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Developments in inertial confinement fusion have led to new ways of exploring highly compressed materials, such as those found deep inside giant planets and low mass stars, where the crushing force of gravity makes matter extremely dense. Recent experiments show that such compressed materials have rather exotic properties; and some fundamental rules of condensed matter, chemistry, and plasma physics break down.
Thu Jan 20, 03-04:00pm, NW17-218
MIT study on the future of natural gas
Daniel Cohn
Use of shale gas has created a large increase in the availability of low cost natural gas, and with it new opportunities for reducing CO2 and oil dependence. This talk will discuss the MIT interdisciplinary study on the future of natural gas.
Fri Jan 21, 10-11:00am, NW17-218
Diagnosing plasma turbulence in tokamaks
Anne White
Scientists have made great progress in understanding and predicting turbulent transport in tokamaks, but challenges remain. Future fusion reactor development depends on using fluctuation diagnostics to monitor plasma turbulence, and comparing the results with advanced theory and simulations. This talk considers recent advances in diagnosing turbulent transport in tokamaks, and the path to predicting transport in ITER.
Fri Jan 21, 11:15am-12:30pm, NW17-218
Tour of Alcator C-Mod and the Versatile Toroidal Facility (VTF)
Tour guide TBD
Visit the Alcator C-Mod tokamak, a well-tested approach to fusion research that has direct applications to ITER, the world's largest tokamak, currently under construction in France. Compare this to the Versatile Toroidal Facility, a small student-built tokamak used to explore magnetic reconnection, the process observed in solar flares.
Fri Jan 21, 01:30-02:30pm, NW17-218
Latest update: 05-Jan-2011
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