Pulsed nuclear fusion reactor

Abstract

This invention relates to a nuclear fusion power plant for producing useful electrical energy by nuclear combustion of deuterium and lithium to helium. A large concentric plate capacitor is discharged rapidly through a mass of molten LiD.sub.1-x T.sub.x (O<X<1) that is situated at its center. Before this discharge, a conducting path had been thermally preformed between the electrodes by an ac current pulse. The high-temperature, high-pressure plasma is confined by the LiD liquid in a narrow channel. Neutrons are generated, partly by thermonuclear fusion, partly by suprathermal collisions which result from the well-known sausage instability. Short n-.sup.6 Li-D-T chain reactions, enhanced by the beryllium content of the electrodes, are also present. The escaping neutrons are absorbed by the surrounding liquid where they breed T, which is then chemically bound, and produce heat. The heat, radiation and mechanical shock are absorbed in the liquid which flows through a heat exchanger in order to energize the associated turbogenerator power plant. After each pulse, the discharge channel vanishes and is homogenized in the liquid. This reactor cannot become supercritical, and does not produce radioactive waste.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.