Physics of Nuclear Energy

Francesco Romanelli is a professor of the physics of nuclear energy at the Industrial Engineering Department, the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, and the president of the consortium for the construction of the Divertor Tokamak Test (DTT) facility.  He directed the activities in magnetic confinement fusion physics (1996–2006) at the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, also known as ENEA, the Joint European Torus (2006–2014), and the European Fusion Development Agreement (2010–2014). He coordinated the preparation of the European Fusion Energy Roadmap. As well, Prof. Romanelli is the author or coauthor of more than 1,000 scientific publications.

1. Introduction to nuclear energy.- 2. The statistical description of many body systems.- 3. The cross section.- 4. Electromagnetism and special relativity.- 5. The experimental evidence of quantum mechanics.- 6. The theoretical basis of quantum mechanics.- 7. The structure of the nucleus and the radioactive decay processes.- 8. Nuclear reactions.- 9. Fission reactors.- 10. The penetration of radiation through matter.- 11. Introduction to plasmas.- 12. Collisions in plasmas.- 13. Toroidal magnetic confinement.- 14. Power balance of fusion power plants.- 15. Particle motion in electric and magnetic fields.- 16. Forces between currents and flux balance.- 17. Plasma equilibrium.- 18. Scrape-off Layer dynamics.- 19. The nuclear challenges of a fusion power plant.- Glossary.- Appendix.