The ignition studies project at princeton

During the past year the Ignition Studies Project (ISP) at Princeton has been investigating design options and performing systems studies on science oriented DT ignition experiments. The goal has been to identify promising approaches leading to a device that could test the basic viability of the burning-plasma regime at a relatively early time and moderate cost. This is a substantial departure from the Tokamak Fusion Core Experiment (TFCX) which had both a physics and an engineering mission. This paper describes some of the approaches under consideration and highlights some of the tradeoffs that need to be understood for the development of an ignition experiment.