Summary of mirror experiments relevant to beam-plasma neutron source

A promising design for a deuterium-tritium (DT) neutron source is based on the injection of neutral beams into a dense, warm plasma column. Its purpose is to test materials for possible use in fusion reactors. A series of designs have evolved, from a 4-T version to an 8-T version. Intense fluxes of 5--10 MW/m2 is achieved at the plasma surface, sufficient to complete end-of-life tests in one to two years. In this report, we review data from earlier mirror experiments that are relevant to such neutron sources. Most of these data are from 2XIIB, which was the only facility to ever inject 5 MW of neutral beams into a single mirror call. The major physics issues for a beam-plasma neutron source are magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equilibrium and stability, microstability, startup, cold-ion fueling of the midplane to allow two-component reactions, and operation in the Spitzer conduction regime, where the power is removed to the ends by an axial gradient in the electron temperature T/sub e/. We show in this report that the conditions required for a neutron source have now been demonstrated in experiments. 20 refs., 15 figs., 3 tabs