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AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy
InventorsRussell M. Kulsrud, Harold P. Furth, Ernest J. Valeo, Maurice Goldhaber
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A method of controlling the reaction rates of the fuel atoms in a fusion reactor comprises the step of polarizing the nuclei of the fuel atoms in a particular direction relative to the plasma confining magnetic field. Fusion reaction rates can be increased or decreased, and the direction of emission of the reaction products can be controlled, depending on the choice of polarization direction.
A method of controlling the reaction rates of fuel nuclei in a fusion reactor having a plasma confining magnetic field, a vacuum vessel and a fuel consisting essentially of a fusion plasma, said method comprising the steps of:
A method of controlling the direction of emission of the reaction products of the fuel in a fusion reactor having a plasma confining magnetic field, a vacuum vessel and a fuel consisting essentially of a fusion plasma said reaction products including neutrons and alpha particles, said method comprising the steps of:
In a controlled fusion reactor having a vacuum vessel and a plasma confining magnetic field, an improved nuclear fuel which consist essentially of a plasma of fuel atoms with polarized nuclei.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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This invention relates to a method of controlling the reaction rates in a nuclear fusion reactor; and more particularly, to the use of polarized nuclear fuel.
In order to make fusion easier to achieve, the interacting nuclei should have the smallest positive charge (i.e. lowest atomic number). Since hydrogen (H) and its isotopes deuterium (D) and tritium (T) all have the lowest atomic number and since hydrogen and deuterium are virtually unlimited in supply, the hydrogen isotopes are thought to be most suitable for a fusion reactor. The basic fusion reactions involving the hydrogen isotopes are:
D+D.fwdarw.He.sup.3 +n (1)
The effects of polarizing the various constituents of the four hydrogen isotope reactions will be discussed below.
D+T.fwdarw.He.sup.4 +n (3)
In the case of a magnetic D-T reactor the fractions of D nuclei polarized parallel, transverse, and antiparallel to the plasma confining magnetic field B are denoted by d.sub.+, d.sub.o and d.sub.-, respectively, while the corresponding fractions of T nuclei are denoted by t.sub.+ and t.sub.-. Then the total nuclear cross-section for this reaction is: ##EQU1## where a=d.sub.+ t.sub.+ +d.sub.- t.sub.-, b=d.sub.o, c=d.sub.+ t.sub.- +d.sub.- t.sub.+, and f is the probability that the D-T reaction goes through the resonant 3/2+state of He.sup.5, where f>0.95. For an unpolarized plasma, a=b=c=1/3 so that .sigma.=2/3.sigma..sub.o. If all the nuclei are polarized parallel to B (d.sub.+ =1, t.sub.30 =1, d.sub.o =d.sub.- =t.sub.- =o), then a=1, b=c=o and .sigma.=f .sigma..sub.o, so that the enhancement of reactivity is 3/2f, nearly 50% faster.