Fusion power from fast imploding liners

An approach to fusion power is described which proposes magnetically driving a thin metal shell at high velocity (approximately 104m/s) onto a warm (200-500 eV), dense (1024-1025m-3) plasma. A description of the plasma/liner interaction by several analytic and numerical models is given. On the basis of theoretical scaling predictions, the advantages, disadvantages and uncertainties associated with a high-efficiency (recirculating power fraction approximately <0.2) Fast-Liner Reactor (FLR) are described, quantified when possible, and summarized. The FLR approach is characterized by i) a thin cylindrical nonrotating liner that would be magnetically accelerated by axial currents driven through the liner (no external coils or magnets), ii) axial and radial energy confinement would be provided by an azimuthal magnetic field associated either with axial currents driven through a hard core or through the plasma, iii) the plasma particle pressure would be supported directly by the liner surface and material end plugs, and iv) the liner and a portion of associated support structure would be destroyed at each implosion. A preliminary assessment of the technological implications of blast confinement, materials destruction and loss, energy transfer and storage requirements, and possible modes of FLR operation is presented. (author)