Near-term feasibility of Candor fusion reactors

Candor fusion reactors are those that employ nonradioactive fuels and that involve primarily reactions that do not produce neutrons. On the basis of existing experimental evidence and a recently developed theory on the macroscopic stability of magnetically confined plasmas, it can be shown that ignition of deuterium/helium-3 (D-3He) reactors is feasible. The same type of toroidal experimental devices can also be employed to test ignition conditions for deuterium (D-D) partially catalyzed reactors which can produce the needed helium-3 fuel. In a D-3He reactor the reaction products are alpha particles and protons. Neutron energy constitutes 80% of the total energy released in the deuterium/tritium (D-T) reactors. The advantages of each type of reactor are described. The author concludes that D-T reactors appear to provide the most-immediate means of acquiring still-needed knowledge of the physics of thermonuclear plasmas. However, in the long term, D-T reactors may not be the most-desirable systems for producing power. The advantages of the D-D catalyzed reactor are: fuel available in nature; does not require lithium blanket to sustain itself; produces only 40% neutrons; and tritium inventory is low