Proton driven fast ignition of low-radioactivity DT–3He fuel

Abstract

With the advent of proton fast driven ignition and more efficient energy transport of the ignitor beam, we might be interested to try successful ignition of the targets mixed with advanced fuels where DT main fuel acts simply as a seed. Here, we have examined the ignition and burn conditions of a DT–3He pre-compressed fuel pellet driven by proton ignitor beam generated separately by the well-known laser-accelerated ion mechanism. We have, first, derived the zero-dimensional model of the energy balance equations of one fluid, three temperatures (i.e. electron, ion and radiation temperatures) including the most important gain and loss processes. Then, in order to evaluate the feasibility of the system and its energy gain, these coupled equations are solved numerically. It has been shown that the system energy gain quickly responses and is sensitive to the initial concentration of He-3, proton beam power and total areal density of fuel. A saturation in energy gain for ρR > 8 g/cm2 has been demonstrated which is equivalent to burn fraction of higher than 0.4. Enhancement in energy gain exceeds 33 percent. Moreover, in a complete catalytic regime of both tritium and He-3 ions, as much as an order of magnitude reduction in neutron flux is observed.