A high gain fusion reactor based on the Magnetically Insulated Inertial Confinement Fusion (MICF) concept

Abstract

The Magnetically Insulated Inertial Confinement Fusion system combines many of the favourable aspects of both magnetic and inertial fusion in that physical containment of the hot plasma is provided by a metallic shell, while its energy is insulated from the solid wall by a strong self-generated magnetic field. The reactor potential of such a deuterium-tritium (D-T) burning system is examined by utilizing a quasi-one-dimensional, time dependent set of particle and energy balance equations for the thermal components plus an arbitrary number of fast alpha energy groups. Classical and anomalous diffusion is incorporated for particles and energy crossing the magnetic field that separates the core plasma from the ‘halo’ region, and the energy gain factor Q is calculated. It is shown that when proper choices are made for the size of the ablating fuel shell and the metallic outer shell, Q values in the hundreds and perhaps thousands are obtainable when reasonable values of initial plasma density, temperature, and radius are assumed. These encouraging results are contingent on certain assumptions concerning refuelling and metallic wall interactions that must await further experimentation and simulation studies for validation.