A method for evaluating a structure is disclosed, the structure including a base material containing at least one kind of metal selected from the group consisting of hydrogen storage metals and hydrogen storage alloys, an intermediate layer provided on the base material and stacked alternately with a first layer containing low work function substances relatively lower in work function than the metal and a second layer containing the metal, and a surface layer provided on the intermediate layer and containing the metal, wherein the method includes measuring a change in polarization between incident light and reflected light by irradiating the surface layer with light, while holding the structure at a predetermined temperature, and comparing a measurement value of the change in polarization with a threshold of a change in polarization of a structure prepared in advance and evaluating a soundness of the structure based on comparison results.

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for generating an electromagnetic field inside a reactor to trigger an exothermic reaction. The design and implementation of the electromagnetics are based on the requirements of a particular exothermic reaction or reactor. For example, the triggering mechanism of a particular exothermic reaction or reactor may require a magnetic field with a specific magnitude, polarity, and/or orientation.

A divertor for system supporting high-energy plasma for fusion employs permanent magnets providing far weaker magnetic field strength than conventionally used in cryogenic magnetic systems through an ability to place the permanent magnets in close proximity to the plasma containment volume.

A heat generating system includes a heat-generating element cell and a circulation device. The heat-generating element cell includes a container having a recovery port and a discharge port, and a reactant that is provided in the container, is made from a hydrogen storage metal or a hydrogen storage alloy, has metal nanoparticles on a surface of the reactant. The heat-generating element cell generates excess heat when hydrogen-based gas contributing to heat generation is supplied into the container and hydrogen atoms are occluded in the metal nanoparticles. The circulation device circulates the hydrogen-based gas in the heat-generating element cell. The circulation device includes a circulating passage that is provided outside the container and connects the recovery port to the discharge port, a pump circulates the hydrogen-based gas in the container via the circulating passage, and a filter on the circulating passage adsorbs and removes the impurities in the hydrogen-based gas.

Provided are apparatuses and methods for providing power to a fission-type nuclear power plant by a reactor with a confining wall at least partially enclosing a confinement region within which charged particles and neutrals can rotate. A plurality of electrodes is adjacent or proximate to the confinement region. A control system having a voltage source applies an electric potential between the plurality of electrodes to generate an electric field within the confinement region to induce rotational movement of the charged particles and the neutrals therein. A reactant is disposed in the confinement region. Repeated collisions between the neutrals and the reactant produce energy and a product having a nuclear mass that is different from a nuclear mass of the nuclei of the neutrals and the reactant. The energy dissipates from the reactor to provide power to the fission-type nuclear power plant.

To provide a superconducting magnet device enabling improved access to internal equipment. A superconducting magnet device includes: a superconducting coil; and a hollow tubular cryostat having an outer peripheral wall and an inner peripheral wall connected to each other so as to define a vacuum region where the superconducting coil is disposed. The cryostat has a tubular partition wall connecting the outer peripheral wall and the inner peripheral wall and a cavity partitioned from the vacuum region by the tubular partition wall is formed inside the tubular partition wall. The outer peripheral wall has an opening portion wide in the circumferential direction of the cryostat, and the opening portion communicates with the cryostat hollow portion radially inside the inner peripheral wall through the cavity.

Examples of advanced fuel cycles for fusion reactors are described. Examples include fuel cycles for use in field reverse configuration (FRC) plasma reactors. In some examples, reaction gases may be removed from a fusion reactor between pulses (e.g. plasmoid collisions). In some examples, a D-.sup.3He reaction is performed, with the .sup.3He provided from decay of byproducts of previous reactions (e.g. tritium).

A device comprising a high temperature superconductor, HTS, circuit; wherein the HTS circuit comprises: a quenchable section comprising HTS material and connected in series to other elements of the HTS circuit, the HTS material comprising a stack of HTS takes comprising at least one HTS tape; the device further comprising: a quenching system configured to quench the HTS material in the quenchable section; a quench protection system configured to detect temperature rises in the HTS circuit and, in response to detection of a temperature rise, cause the quenching system to quench the superconducting material in the quenchable section in order to dump stored magnetic energy from the HTS circuit into the quenchable section; wherein the HTS circuit is configured such that, when in use, the magnetic field on the or each HTS tape is substantially parallel to a a-b plane of the HTS tape, and the quenching system is configured to quench the HTS material by producing an additional magnetic field along the length of the or each HTS tape within the quenchable section, such that the additional magnetic field has a component perpendicular to the a-b plane of the HTS tape.

A practical technique for inducing and controlling the fusion of nuclei within a solid lattice. A reactor includes a loading source to provide the light nuclei which are to be fused, a lattice which can absorb the light nuclei, a source of phonon energy, and a control mechanism to start and stop stimulation of phonon energy and/or the loading of reactants. The lattice transmits phonon energy sufficient to affect electron-nucleus collapse. By controlling the stimulation of phonon energy and controlling the loading of light nuclei into the lattice, energy released by the fusion reactions is allowed to dissipate before it builds to the point that it causes destruction of the reaction lattice.

Schemes are described for conductor and coolant placement in stacked-plate superconducting magnets, including arranging coolant channels and conducting channels within the plates on opposing faces. If the two types of channels are aligned with one another across the plate stacks, the plates may be stacked such that the cooling channel in one plate is adjacent to the conducting channel of the neighboring plate. By stacking a number of these plates, therefore, cooling may be supplied to each conducting channel through the cooling channels of each neighboring plate. Moreover, by aligning the two types of channels, the stacks of plates may have improved mechanical strength because mechanical load paths through the entire stack that do not pass through any of the channels may be created. This arrangement of channels may produce a very strong stack of plates that can withstand high Lorentz loads.