Fusion reactors

[Jacques.Read@eh.doe.gov]

The real promise of fusion energy  is the deuterium burner, where the products

are He-3 and a proton.  Since everything is charged it all can be magnetically

contained.  Dick Post (LLNL) had a scheme involving a "pinch machine"

(essentially an unfolded torus, that leaked at both ends) in which a linear

accelerator at each end alternately fed in new deuterons and extracted power

from the plasma by having the He-3 and protons run backwards into them. This

obviates the need for the lithium blanket to absorb the neutrons and make more

tritium.



The bad news is that the threshold for D-D is a couple of hundred kilovolts more

than that for  D-T.







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