Magnetic Fusion Energy-Systems

Fusion reactors. Liquid salts are major candidates for cooling inertial and magnetic fusion energy systems [XXVI-11]. 

This work was supported by the Division of Chemical Sciences, Office of Basic Energy Sciences of The United States Department of Energy. Services and computer time provided by United Information Systems, Kansas City, MO, Argonne National Laboratory, and the National Magnetic Fusion Energy Computer Center have been invaluable in this study. The authors would also like to thank Ms. D. Piper for her assistance in the preparation of this manuscript. 

Most schemes that have been proposed to propel starships involve plasmas. Schemes differ both in the selection of matter for propulsion and the way it is energi2ed for ejection. Some proposals involve onboard storage of mass to be ejected, as in modem rockets, and others consider acquisition of matter from space or the picking up of pellets, and their momentum, which are accelerated from within the solar system (184,185). Energy acquisition from earth-based lasers also has been considered, but most interstellar propulsion ideas involve nuclear fusion energy both magnetic, ie, mirror and toroidal, and inertial, ie, laser and ion-beam, fusion schemes have been considered (186—190). 

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. 

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