The authors consider the physical problems involved in the design of a thermonuclear reactor with a rotating plasma. Detailed consideration is given to a version of the reactor in which the plasma is stabilized mainly by radial variation of the rate of rotation of the plasma (electric shear). Such aspects as the heating, longitudinal confinement, stability and equilibrium of the plasma as well as the problem of impurities are considered and a calculation of the reactor's efficiency is made. The authors discuss the engineering problems of the creation of a high-intensity radial electric field in the plasma and describe a modification of this type of reactor – a system without magnetic mirrors (a ‘centrifugal trap’).
Studies have been carried out of an MHD stable rotating plasma with the following parameters: mean ion energy up to 40 keV in the laboratory frame of reference or up to 20 keV in the rotating frame of reference, plasma density 3 × 1011 cm−3 (and up to 1012 cm−3 in special regimes), mean energy of electrons 0.1−1.0 keV (non-Maxwellian spectrum), lifetime of ions 10−4 s (determined by charge exchange), and plasma volume 0.1 m3, in experiments on the PSP-2 device. The field strength in the plasma was about 20 kV/cm, and the total voltage achieved 0.5 MV. The MHD stabilization conditions are in agreement with the theoretical estimates. A hot plasma was created in a high voltage E⃗ × B⃗ discharge, the cold hydrogen gas having been puffed without any heating or plasma injection systems.
A physical design of a device that can be a base for a direct-conversion nuclear electric power station is considered. The project considers the aneutronic reaction P–11B in the asymmetric centrifugal trap. Kinetic energy of nuclear particles (alpha particles) is converted into electrical energy inside this device; no thermal cycle is used. Heating and recuperation of energy of protons and boron ions take place in the plasma space. The presented scheme differs significantly from the conventional thermonuclear fusion. ‘Fast’ protons, which are the main energy component of plasma, have an almost monoenergetic spectrum. This makes it possible to realize the ‘resonance’ fusion.
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