DEUTERIUM-TRITIUM FUSION-REACTORS WITHOUT EXTERNAL TRITIUM BREEDING

An inherent property of deuterium fusion burn-up equations is presente d, due to which deuterium-tritium reactions can be exploited without n eeding tritium breeding in external blankets. A small amount of tritiu m is added to the deuterium plasma in order to trigger ignition at les s than 10 keV, and the same amount of tritium is found in the debris o f the burnt-up plasma if the burning temperature is higher than 200 ke V. Plasma parameters to exploit this property are very similar to thos e of inertial fusion confinement. Tritium inventory in a reactor would thus be reduced to a minimum value, because the initial composition o f the fuel would be of the type DTx, with x approximate to 0.02, and t ritium would immediately be reprocessed to fabricate new fuel. (C) 199 8 Elsevier Science B.V.