Progress in Mirror-Based Fusion Neutron Source Development.

A Anikeev,D Yakovlev,D Yurov,E Kolesnikov,V Prikhodko,P Bagryansky,V Maximov,A Lizunov,A Solomakhin,S Murakhtin,E Soldatkina,Yu Tsidulko,A Ivanov,A Beklemishev,O Korobeinikova,M Korzhavina,E Pinzhenin

doi:10.3390/ma8125471

Abstract

The Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics in worldwide collaboration has developed a project of a 14 MeV neutron source for fusion material studies and other applications. The projected neutron source of the plasma type is based on the gas dynamic trap (GDT), which is a special magnetic mirror system for plasma confinement. Essential progress in plasma parameters has been achieved in recent experiments at the GDT facility in the Budker Institute, which is a hydrogen (deuterium) prototype of the source. Stable confinement of hot-ion plasmas with the relative pressure exceeding 0.5 was demonstrated. The electron temperature was increased up to 0.9 keV in the regime with additional electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) of a moderate power. These parameters are the record for axisymmetric open mirror traps. These achievements elevate the projects of a GDT-based neutron source on a higher level of competitive ability and make it possible to construct a source with parameters suitable for materials testing today. The paper presents the progress in experimental studies and numerical simulations of the mirror-based fusion neutron source and its possible applications including a fusion material test facility and a fusion-fission hybrid system.

Highlights

The most critical material issues in fusion energy development are caused by the intense irradiation of high energetic neutrons
Recent Results of the gas dynamic trap (GDT) Experiment Essential progress in plasma parameters was achieved in recent experiments at the GDT facility in the Budker Institute, which is a hydrogen prototype of the source [6]
Warm maxwellian plasma is confined in a gas dynamic regime, which is characterized by collisional particle losses through the magnetic mirror into the end chambers of the device

Summary

Introduction

The most critical material issues in fusion energy development are caused by the intense irradiation of high energetic neutrons. The electron temperature obtained in the GDT experiment substantially exceeds the previously predicted [2] limit for Te in a magnetic mirror trap with neutral beam injection: Te ~ 0.01 Einj, where Einj is the energy of the injected neutral atoms. In GDT experiments the relative plasma pressure β exceeds 0.5, which corresponds to a high ion (deuteron) density up to 5 × 1019 m−3 with = 10 keV. All these results were obtained by using a new efficient method of transverse plasma confinement, the so‐called “vortex confinement” [10]. The sections of this paper are devoted to the numerical simulation of several neutron sources based on the achieved experimental data

Simulation of Mirror‐Based Fusion Neutron Source

Results of the Numerical Simulations

Conclusions