Feasibility of antiproton-boosted fission and inertial confinement fusion

Antiproton-induced fission of uranium or plutonium has been proposed as a method to assist the driver of an inertial confinement fusion (ICF) pellet or as a spark initiator. In past studies with 1-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamics codes others have predicted the behavior of these conceptual pellets, including large compression ratios and large fusion plus fission energy yields. However, in these highly idealized studies factors that have reduced predicted yields in past ICF experiments were neglected or not discussed. Thus this concept warrants further study to validate its feasibility with higher confidence, and a three-phase program has been initiated for these studies