The spherical pinch as a neutron generator for fusion studies and industrial neutron radiography

The Spherical Pinch concept of plasma heating has been successfully studied for a number of years by different groups. A recent numerical analysis employing a 1-dimensional, lagrangian hydrodynamic and heat transfer code has assessed the value of this concept as a function device under realistic input parameters. Moreover, since the Spherical Pinch is essentially a modified Inertial confinement Fusion (ICF) scheme, where the presence of a central plasma acting as a target for the imploding shock waves improves on the achievable containment times and plasma temperatures, the numerical analysis has now been employed to compare the Spherical Pinch with the ICF, especially in regard to neutron emission. Indeed, it has been numerically found that the emission of neutrons from the Spherical Pinch is three orders of magnitude higher than the ICF under identical conditions of input energy. The attractiveness of the Spherical Pinch scheme lies in the fact that the machine is scalable in terms of neutron outputs. Therefore, if modest neutron emissions are required to particular target applications, the machine size can be reduced accordingly. For instance, an industrial application that is receiving increasing attention is neutron radiography for non-destructive material testing. A Feasibility Study has recently demonstrated that indeed the Spherical Pinch can be scaled down to provide useful neutron outputs for radiography with a transportable machine. A survey of all these results will be presented at the conference