Inertial confinement fusion reactors based on the gas protection concept

Abstract

Two inertial confinement fusion reactor designs based upon ‘gas protection’ of the first wall from pellet debris and X-rays are reviewed. These are the laser fusion reactor design, SOLASE, and a light ion beam cavity and first wall study conducted at the University of Wisconsin in collaboration with Sandia Laboratory. The dynamics of low pressure noble gas (xenon) for the laser fusion reactor and high pressure noble gas (argon) for the LIB fusion reactor are computed. Low pressure noble gases appear to release the explosion energy in a radiation pulse that is too short for acceptable first wall response. The same characteristic is true for the high pressure gas in the LIB reactor cavity. This leads to the future investigation of gas mixtures where the noble gas provides the heat capacity and a small concentration of impurity material provides sufficient opacity to reduce the radiation release.