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On the implementation of a chain nuclear reaction of thermonuclear fusion on the basis of the p+11B process

  • Nuclei
  • Theory
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Abstract

Various theoretical and experimental schemes for implementing a thermonuclear reactor on the basis of the p+11B reaction are considered. They include beam collisions, fusion in degenerate plasmas, ignition upon plasma acceleration by ponderomotive forces, and the irradiation of a solid-state target from 11B with a proton beam under conditions of a Coulomb explosion of hydrogen microdrops. The possibility of employing ultra-short high-intensity laser pulses to initiate the p+11B reaction under conditions far from thermodynamic equilibrium is discussed. This and some other weakly radioactive thermonuclear reactions are promising owing to their ecological cleanness—there are virtually no neutrons among fusion products. Nuclear reactions that follow the p+11B reaction may generate high-energy protons, sustaining a chain reaction, and this is an advantage of the p+11B option. The approach used also makes it possible to study nuclear reactions under conditions close to those in the early Universe or in the interior of stars.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Central Research Institute for Machine Building (TsNIIMash), Russian Space Agency, Pionerskaya ul. 4, Korolev, Moscow oblast, 141070, Russia

    V. S. Belyaev, B. V. Zagreev & A. P. Matafonov

  2. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (State University), Institutskii per. 9, Dolgoprudnyi, Moscow oblast, 141700, Russia

    V. P. Krainov

Authors
  1. V. S. Belyaev
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  2. V. P. Krainov
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  3. B. V. Zagreev
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  4. A. P. Matafonov
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Correspondence to V. P. Krainov.

Additional information

Original Russian Text © V.S. Belyaev, V.P. Krainov, B.V. Zagreev, A.P. Matafonov, 2015, published in Yadernaya Fizika, 2015, Vol. 78, No.s. 7–8, pp. 580–590.

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Belyaev, V.S., Krainov, V.P., Zagreev, B.V. et al. On the implementation of a chain nuclear reaction of thermonuclear fusion on the basis of the p+11B process. Phys. Atom. Nuclei 78, 537–547 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063778815040031

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063778815040031

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