Multi-species Fokker-Planck calculations for D-T and D-³He mirror reactors

Abstract

Values of the confinement parameter ntau and the figure of merit Q (the ratio of thermonuclear power to injected power) are obtained for postulated reactor conditions. The heart of the work is the numerical solution, under tested assumptions, of the coupled Fokker-Planck equations for as many as six charged species. A study is made of D-T and D-3He fuel cycles, including reaction products, in the following parameter ranges: mirror ratio, 2<or=Rm<10; injection energy, 50 keV<or=E0<or=1500 keV; equilibrium 3He fraction for the D-3He cycle, 0.05<or=fHe<or=0.35. The computed Q's fall in the ranges 0.5<QDT<1.5, 0.1<QDHe<0.3. The present results are compared with previous work, with analytical/empirical approximations, and with a separate code treating velocity space more rigorously for a single positive species.