Reversed-Field Pinch Reactor (RFPR) concept

A conceptual engineering design of a fusion reactor based on plasma confinement in a Reversed-Field Pinch (FRP) configuration is presented. A 50% atomic mixture of deuterium and tritium (DT) is ohmically heated to ignition by currents flowing in the toroidal plasma; this plasma current also inherently produces the confining magnetic fields in a toroidal chamber having a major and minor radii of 12.7 and 1.5 m, respectively. The DT plasma ignites in 2 to 3 s and burns at 10 to 20 keV for approx. 20 s to give a fuel burnup of approx. 50%. Tritium breeding occurs in a granular Li/sub 2/O blanket which is packed around an array of radially oriented coolant tubes carrying a mixture of high-pressure steam and water. The slightly superheated steam emerging from this blanket would be used to drive a turbine directly. Low-pressure helium containing trace amounts of oxygen is circulated through the packed Li/sub 2/O bed to extract the tritium. A 20-mm-thick copper first wall serves as a neutron multiplier, acts as a tritium barrier, and supports image currents to provide plasma stabilization on a 0.1-s timescale; external windings provide stability for longer times.