Science/Engineering/Technical forums

Yes, Doug, I agree with your points. I wasn't trying to argue - I was trying to expound.
I'm currently designing a fission plant. I am a Nuclear Engineering grad student, and I'm aware of the issues neutrons - including 14.1 MeV D-T fusion neutrons - create.

Fission produces 200 MeV/fission but the ...

Most fission plants operate in the range of 10^16 n/cm^2/s; the high DPA materials needed to survive in such spaces have been worked out, its the same stuff we use for reactor pressure vessels now: a wall of stainless, with a backing of low-carbon steel. Reactor pressure vessels have a service life ...

Lockheed seems to be working on a magnetic mirror device; the most energetic particles escape through the centerline. The third, larger coil I presume to be a pinch coil, to push the plasma into the center harmonically. The power takeoff would be from the energetic plasma streams from the centerline ...

It was a University of Wisconsin effort, reproducing the Hirsch Six Ion Gun Fusion Experiment, in the last few years.
http://fti.neep.wisc.edu/iec2009/talks/ ... ianegl.pdf

I'm looking at Rider 1995 "A general critique of inertial-electrostatic confinement fusion systems" and especially the section on grid losses.

E. Electron grid losses
Now consider the power losses that are caused by con-
fining the particles with an electrostatic grid instead of a
magnetic cusp ...

D-D fusion creates a 2.45 MeV neutron; D-T (which can happen with the D-D=>T reaction) a 14.1 MeV.
That's a pretty energetic neutron, and lead is NOT the correct way to stop it.
You want ~30 Mean-free paths through a hydrogen bearing compound like water (MFP ~4 cm for fast, ~0.5 cm for thermal).
If ...

My theory on the fusion rate of D-D in a matrix is that the energy required to push a hyrdogen atom through the lattice gap acts as an additional force on the Deuterium in the lattice, and thus even fairly low energy deuterium impacting the surface will set up a wave of deuterium being dislocated ...

I'll be generating the plasma in a magnetic bottle, so the MTBF should be higher (Ad Astra is shooting for years of service in space with VASIMR).
Hydrogen should give me the best end speed to input energy, and be cheap.

I'm working on a design for an inline high flux (> 1 MW) accelerator for a spallation neutron source.
Currently, I'm leaning toward a helicon/multiple RCH setup, along the lines of the VASIMR space engine, using hydrogen.
The advantage is no grids, so no wear parts. The disadvantage is the sloppy ...

Our neutron generator http://www.adelphitech.com/products/dd109.html here at Missouri University of Science and Technology is a Ti target with 20keV D accelerator; the target is a "v" shape, in order to spread the heat. There is a delay in reaching peak flux, because of the load-up time.
Ti has the ...