System analysis of the ion-ring-compressor approach to fusion

An overall systems analysis of a fusion reactor scheme based on strong rings of high-energy ions generated by adiabatic compression of low-energy rings is presented. Consideration of the reactor aspects of such a system reveals the potential for a number of technologically and economically interesting features; in particular, those associated with the expected high-β confinement characteristics of such minimum-B configurations. Although insufficient knowledge on some of the related physics questions exists, no insurmountable problems regarding the feasibility of such a scheme can be discerned at this point. A preliminary design study for a Nx300-MW reactor (N being the number of simultaneously employed rings) is presented. (author)