Prospects of the cylindrical IEC fusion device as a neutron source

An approximate model (C-Fusion) has been developed to model the plasma physics of the inertial electrostatic confinement cylindrical (IEC-C) fusion device. Several simplifying approximations are employed: the plasma is locally quasi-neutral, there is a spatially one-dimensional variation of plasma properties, and the plasma potential profile is linear. Ions are assumed to have a mono-energetic distribution. The effects of ion-ion and ion-neutral collisions, as well as charge exchange, are included in the model via a recirculation parameter /spl eta/. A parametric study using this model shows that the neutron generation rate reaches 10/sup 8/ D-D n/s for operation regimes ranging from 40 kV, 10 A to 80 kV, 1A.