DescriptionAEC-71-9058 PLASMA CONFINEMENT…BASEBALL II SYSTEM… The basic requirement for the success of controlled fusion is that the ionized gas be confined at a temperature between 100 million and 1 billion degrees – many times hotter than the centre of the sun – for a time period long enough to achieve a net release of energy. A thermonuclear reactor employing magnetic-mirror confinement might not be self-sustained but may have to be continuously rekindled by an efficient means of maintaining the hot-plasma density and temperature. In the Baseball mirror confinement experiments at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Livermore, the plasma is maintained by the continuous injection of energetic neutral atoms which are ionized and trapped within the plasma. This drawing shows the central environmental chamber of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Livermore, Baseball II magnetic-mirror system, including the superconducting magnet, the supporting liquid-helium (HE) vessel, and the radiation heat shields. The neutral injection beam lines (not shown) are directed through the centroid of the magnet, perpendicular to the plane of the figure. The vacuum vessel is 8 feet in diameter and 12 feet high. The magnet coils are wound in a shape resembling the sears on a baseball. Credit: Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Livermore
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