The Reversed-Field Pinch (RFP) English page


             The Reversed-Field Pinch (RFP)

MAGNETIC TOPOLOGY
The RFP and spheromak are driven towards a state of "minimum energy" by internal dynamos (turbulence driven). In an RFP, the magnetic field lines wind loosely around the torus near the center (black). They wind more tightly as one moves outward (blue), until near the edge of the plasma the toroidal magnetic field reverses and the field lines wind in the reverse direction (red). The internal fields are then larger than the fields at the magnet coils, so RFPs have low-magnetic- field coils but high-fusion-power density.

ADVANTAGES

High power density (more compact, better
economics).
Less demanding magnet technology.
Natural (minimum energy, stable) plasma
"state."

EXPERIMENTS

The core of an RFP power plant-conceptual design study at Los Alamos National Laboratory. RFPs have low-magnetic-field coils but high-power fusion density. This means more economical higher-power- density power plants.

OTHER RFP EXPERIMENTS:

Royal Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
Electro-Technical Laboratory, Tsukuba, Japan.
Istituto Gas lonizzati del C.N.R., Padova, Italy.