PRIKLADNAYA FIZIKA
(Applied Physics)

The Scientific and Technical Journal

The integral stability of operating conditions of a fusion reactor is considered. A significant difference is shown for the regimes with fusion alpha particles and no fusion reaction so the fusion product heating depends on plasma parameters much stronger then absorbed power of external heating. This issue is important for the analysis of possible stationary operational modes of fusion reactors based on alternative systems of plasma confinement. The stability region extends substantially while reducing the plasma power gain factor Q. This fact is important for fusion neutron sources with Q ~ 1, since it means a more reliable control of the power than in reactors with Q ~ 10. The analysis is based on the energy equation. In general, the confinement time is represented in the form of a power scaling law. Some confinement scaling laws are analyzed. For example, one of the possible scaling for the field re-versed magnetic configuration (FRC) may correspond to unstable regimes at Q > 5.

PACS: 52.55.Dy; 28.52.-s; 02.30.Yy

Keywords: fusion plasma, power balance, particle balance, confinement time, stability.

Contents of the issue