COURSES

Goals

To introduce students to the basics of nuclear fusion: - overview on past, current and planned activities in development of fusion reactors for electrical energy production, - evaluation of the ecological aspects of energy production from fusion of light element nuclei and find that fusion reactors are not comparable with conventional nuclear reactors for energy production from fission of heavy element nuclei, - information on possibilities for joining large international projects on fusion such as EUROfusion (European Consortium for the Development of Fusion Energy), ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) and DEMO (Demonstration Fusion Reactor). Competencies: - judging nuclear fusion as the future source of energy, - distinguishing between fission and fusion reactors, - discovering abilities to heat gas above the temperature in the centre of the sun - distinguishing between tokamaks, stellarators and Z-pinches, - evaluation of ecological aspects of nuclear fusion, - evaluation of currently crucial technological problems.

Curriculum

- Historical overview. - Nuclear fusion and available energy. - Sun and hot thermonuclear plasma. - Tokamaks and stellarators. - Technological problems in fusion reactors. - Interaction of hot plasma with solid materials. - Ecological aspects and safety measures. - ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor). - DEMO (Demonstration Fusion Reactor).