Transient Temperature Variations During the Self-Heating of a Plasma by Thermonuclear Reactions

Abstract

The ion and electron temperature variations in an idealized controlled thermonuclear reactor burning various ratios of deuterium and tritium are calculated. The variation in the fraction of energy deposited to the nuclear and electron gases with temperature is specifically included. One qualitative result is that it would be unsafe to assume nuclear temperature always equal to or greater than electron temperature for a nuclearly reacting plasma with tritium concentration greater than ten percent.