Pellet Delivery for the Conceptual Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor Hiball

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Abstract
A summary of the investigations on pellet delivery is presented for the conceptual heavy-ion-beam-driven fusion reactor HIBALL. The results are given for the physical feasibility of pneumatic and electromagnetic pellet acceleration, and proposals are made for adequate pellet carriers. These can be utilized for any inertial confinement fusion reactor concept. A suitable value is derived for the pellet velocity by regarding the heating of the pellet by cavity radiation. A pellet velocity of 200 m/s is chosen. It is shown that for this pellet velocity the pellet tracking and synchronization of the pellet with the ion pulses are consistently feasible with respect to adequate pellet illumination by the ion beams. The proposed conceptual pellet injectors are designed for a 2-g projectile, composed of the pellet and a pellet carrier, and for an acceleration distance of 2 m. To achieve a pellet velocity of 200 m/s, a propellant gas pressure of 0.5 MPa is required for pneumatic acceleration. Using a magnetic linear accelerator with coils of 1-cm radius and 1-cm spacing, an effective magnetic induction on the axis of 1.2 T is necessary. An adequate pellet carrier is designed for each of the acceleration methods. This is a closed capsule for pneumatic acceleration and an open carrier with a ferromagnetic driving body for electromagnetic acceleration. The two injection methods are compared and evaluated with respect to the technical feasibility of the corresponding system components in order to give a concluding recommendation.

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