Some criteria for a self-sustaining steady state thermonuclear reaction

Abstracts and Titles The programme in the United States has developed along several lines : First there is the establishment of a closed annular current with magnetic lines of force encircling that current. This produces the well-known pinch effect. The second approach is called the stellarator. In this machine the field is essentially orthogonal to that in the pinch. It is produced by external coils. In order to accomplish better stability the two field systems described above are not used independently but rather each contains something of an admixture of the other one. The two approaches continue to differ, however, because the pinch experiment is pulsed whereas the stellarator experiment aims at a steady state. The third group of machines have open-ended fields which are, however, more intense at two places. These more intense fields constitute magnetic mirrors which reflect most of the spiraling ions. A fourth plan uses a system of circulating relativistic electrons pattern of magnetic

which establish a closed lines. The ionized gas is

then confined by this field. Difficulties so far have proved to be considerable, and we cannot predict a date at which power will be produced. Economic production of power will lie still farther in the future. We believe, however, that in the end it will be feasible. The eventual value of thermonuclear power is very great indeed. First of all, it will open up a practically limitless amount of energy. Furthermore the use of this energy is less hazardous than that of fission energy. Finally, direct conversion of part of this energy is feasible. The possibility also exists that fusion energy can be brought to an early practical use in a different way: by the controlled use of nuclear explosions.

for a Self-sustaining Steady State Thermonuclear Reaction. T. HESSELBERG

P/2418.

Some Criteria

JENSEN, 0. KOFOED-HANSEN, A. H. SILLESEN and C. F. WANDEL (Denmark). A thermonuclear reaction in an extended plasma is thought to be kept in a steady state by continuously adding cold deuterium and tritium and at the same time extracting part of the plasma. In general, it is necessary to reinject a fraction, E, of the power escaping from the plasma in form of electromagnetic radiation, kinetic energy of neutrons and heat in extracted

plasma. The fraction E turns out to be a function of the plasma temperature, the deuterium burn up and the tritium enrichment of the fuel only. It results that an optimum can be found for all three parameters. A few considerations are given of the extension of the theory to the problem of having different temperatures for the electrons and the different ions.

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(ii) Reactor chemistry, physics technology papers

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