TITLE:
Progressive Thermalization Fusion Reactor Able to Produce Nuclear Fusions at Higher Mechanical Gain
AUTHORS:
Patrick Lindecker
KEYWORDS:
Fusion Reactor, Nuclear Energy, Progressive Thermalization, Colliding Beams, Stellarator, Mechanical Gain
JOURNAL NAME:
Energy and Power Engineering,
Vol.14 No.1,
January
29,
2022
ABSTRACT: In the standard fusion reactors, mainly tokamaks, the mechanical gain
obtained is below 1. On the other hand, there are colliding beam fusion
reactors, for which, the not neutral plasma and the space charge limit the
number of fusions to a very small number. Consequently, the mechanical gain is
extremely low. The proposed reactor is also a colliding beam fusion reactor,
configured in Stellarator, using directed beams. D+/T+ ions are injected in
opposition, with electrons, at high speeds, so as to form a neutral beam. All
these particles turn in a magnetic loop in form of figure of “0” (“racetrack”).
The plasma is initially non-thermal but, as expected, rapidly becomes thermal,
so all states between non-thermal and thermal exist in this reactor. The main
advantage of this reactor is that this plasma after having been brought up near
to the optimum conditions for fusion (around 68 keV), is then maintained in
this state, thanks to low energy non-thermal ions (≤15 keV). So the energetic
cost is low and the mechanical gain (Q)
is high (>>1). The goal of this article is to study a different type of fusion
reactor, its advantages (no net plasma current inside this reactor, so no
disruptive instabilities and consequently a continuous working, a relatively simple
way to control the reactor thanks to the particles injectors), and its
drawbacks, using a simulator tool. The finding results are valuable for
possible future fusion reactors able to generate massive energy in a cleaner
and safer way than fission reactors.