Inertial confinement reactors

The deuterium plus tritium and deuterium plus deuterium reactions are of interest in the development of controlled fusion devices for producing energy. A number of designs have been proposed for these fusion reactors, with most attention given to inertial confinement and magnetic confinement systems. 

Cahn, Robert W. 1984. Making fuel for inertially confined fusion reactors. Nature 311 408. 

One last word on inertial confinement the protection of a future reactor chamber fi-om radiation and debris released in the micro-explosion is a unique and challenging aspect of IGF reactor design. Other challenges of this field include pellet handling and positioning in the chamber, protection of mirrors and other optical elements, etc. 

There are some difFerences between two-phase flows in microreactors and conventional reactors. The importance of surface over volume forces increases. Reynolds number is usually small and laminar flow is established, where viscous forces dominate over inertial ones. The effects of wall roughness, wettability, and flow confinement become important. 

---