Concepts for a deuterium-deuterium fusion reactor

TL;DR

This paper explores innovative concepts for D-D fusion reactors, proposing mechanisms like energy distribution tailoring and vacuum polarization effects to enhance reactivity, potentially enabling more compact and versatile fusion systems.

Contribution

It introduces novel approaches to improve D-D fusion reactor performance, challenging the assumption that D-D reactors require prior D-T reactor development.

Findings

Kappa-distribution can increase energetic nuclei for fusion

Vacuum polarization effects may enhance Coulomb barrier screening

Energy collection can be simplified without lithium blankets

Abstract

We revisit the assumption that reactors based on deuterium-deuterium (D-D) fusion processes have to be necessarily developed after the successful completion of experiments and demonstrations for deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion reactors. Two possible mechanisms for enhancing the reactivity are discussed. Hard tails in the energy distribution of the nuclei, through the so-called kappa-distribution, allow to boost the number of energetic nuclei available for fusion reactions. At higher temperatures than usually considered in D-T plasmas, vacuum polarization effects from real $e^+e^-$ and $\mu^+\mu^-$ pairs may provide further speed-up due to their contribution to screening of the Coulomb barrier. Furthermore, the energy collection system can benefit from the absence of the lithium blanket, both in simplicity and compactness. The usual thermal cycle can be bypassed with comparable efficiency levels using hadronic calorimetry and third-generation photovoltaic cells, possibly allowing to extend the use of fusion reactors to broader contexts, most notably maritime transport.