Influence of the tritium beta(-) decay on low-temperature thermonuclear burn-up in deuterium-tritium mixtures
Low-temperature (T</=15 keV) thermonuclear burn-up in deuterium-tritium mixtures with various deuterium-tritium-helium-3 ratios is considered. The general dependence is studied for the critical burn-up parameter x(c)=rhor(c) upon the initial temperature T, density rho(0), and tritium molar concentration y for the [D]:y[T]:(1-y)[3He] mixture. In particular, it is shown that, if the tritium concentration y decreases, then the critical burn-up parameter x(c)(T,rho(0),y) grows very quickly (at fixed T and rho(0)). This means that tritium beta(-) decay significantly complicates thermonuclear burn-up in deuterium-tritium mixtures.
Frolov
AM
Department of Physics, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada N9B 3P4.