Simulation of the Fuel Isotope Effect on the Confinement Property in DT Fusion Reactors

Abstract

To sustain deuterium (D) - tritium (T) burning plasmas efficiently and to reduce T fuel injection into magnetic confinement fusion reactors, the amount and the ratio of D and T both in the bulk plasmas and in the fueling systems should be controlled accurately. In order to analyze the relationship among fueling methods, the D/T fuel ratio, and reactor output power numerically, we applied the toroidal transport analysis linkage (TOTAL) equilibrium-transport integrated simulation code to model the fuel supply in D-T burning plasmas. It was revealed that operation with a lower tritium ratio in the fuel pellet and a higher electron density can reduce the T fuel injection. The isotope effect of the ion mass on the confinement property was also investigated. As a preliminary result, a concern emerged that the improved confinement of helium ions causes an unintended increase of the electron density, if the particle diffusion coefficient of the ions has a negative correlation with the ion mass.