Burn characteristics of D-T ignited D-D and D-3He fuel pellets for inertial confinement fusion reactors

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Abstract
The burn characteristics are examined of an inertially confined advanced fuel pellet ignited by D-T burn, i.e. a D-T ignitor/D-D fuel and a D-T ignitor/D-3He fuel pellet. With the help of numerical simulations of a bare target model, conditions are derived for the pellet compression needed in an advanced fuel fusion reactor. It is found that a D-T/D-D pellet having a total ρR value of ~ 13 gcm−2 and an ignitor with a ρR of ~ 5 gcm−2 is required for a reactor operating without tritium breeding blanket. A scaling chart of the fuel burnup and the internal tritium breeding ratio is given, and a condition to be imposed on the ignitor for efficient burn is discussed.