Igniting a microexplosion by a microexplosion and some other controlled thermonuclear fusion scenarios with neutronless reactions

Several proposals on the power production application of neutronless fusion reactions and the ${\rm D}+{\rm D}\to ^3{\rm He}+{\rm n}+3.27$ ~MeV reaction are reviewed. Compressing low tritium fuel by thermal radiation from one or more D--T microexplosions possibly combined with one or more drivers is considered as the optimum ignition strategy for microexplosions with physically important D--D fusion reactions. Results are presented which show the incorrectness of three assumptions that argue that the ignition of the ${\rm p}+^{11}{\rm B}\to {3\alpha} +8.9$ ~MeV reaction can be facilitated by chain reactions. The delivery of lunar $^3{\rm He}$ as a thermonuclear fuel component for large-scale power production on the Earth is discussed from the viewpoint of the expedience problem.

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Keywords: controlled thermonuclear fusion, neutronless fusion reaction, DD fusion, igniting a microexplosion by a microexplosion, lunar helium-3
PACS: 25.60.Pj, 28.52.−s, 28.52.Cx, 52.57.Bc (all)
DOI: 10.3367/UFNe.2018.03.038304
URL: https://ufn.ru/en/articles/2019/1/f/
Citation: Shmatov M L "Igniting a microexplosion by a microexplosion and some other controlled thermonuclear fusion scenarios with neutronless reactions" Phys. Usp. 62 (1) (2019)

Received: 18th, October 2017, revised: 22nd, February 2018, accepted: 6th, March 2018

Оригинал: Шматов М Л «Инициирование микровзрыва микровзрывом и некоторые другие сценарии управляемого термоядерного синтеза с безнейтронными реакциями» УФН 189 72–84 (2019); DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.2018.03.038304