Can Flame Jets Effectively Constrain Plasma in Fusion Reactors?

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    Confinement Jets
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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on the feasibility of using flame jets to confine plasma in fusion reactors, specifically within the context of the ITER Tokamak, which requires temperatures of 150 million degrees Celsius for effective fusion. The proposed method involves combusting hydrogen or other reactants to generate flame jets, but the consensus is that this approach would likely disrupt the plasma rather than stabilize it. Calculations indicate that introducing significant mass into the plasma at such high temperatures would require impractical energy levels, leading to instability and failure of the confinement system.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of plasma physics and fusion processes
  • Knowledge of ITER Tokamak operational parameters
  • Familiarity with combustion processes and their limitations in high-energy environments
  • Basic principles of thermodynamics and energy transfer
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the principles of plasma confinement techniques in fusion reactors
  • Study the ITER Tokamak design and its operational challenges
  • Explore alternative methods for plasma stabilization, such as magnetic confinement
  • Investigate the thermodynamic implications of introducing mass into high-temperature plasma
USEFUL FOR

Researchers in plasma physics, engineers working on fusion technology, and anyone involved in the development of advanced energy systems will benefit from this discussion.

Andrewtv848
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TL;DR
New type of active confinement
I have a idea for a plasma based fusion reactor. Using a combusting hydrogen/other reactant generate a flame jet to actively confine the plasma and possibly using a helium compressed jet stream as well to bring down turbulence.
My friend already says these will destroy the plasma but I am am not sure.
thanks for your time
 
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Andrewtv848 said:
Summary:: New type of active confinement

hydrogen/other reactant
Generally, any ion of Z>1, He, Li, . . . increases the energy losses from the plasma, in addition to having lower cross-sections (probability) for fusion reactions. In addition, as Z increases, there are a corresponding numbers of electrons which also contribute to the plasma pressure, without any benefit with respect to fusion.
 
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Plasma pressure is of the order of 105 Pa. A good rocket engine can shoot out material at an optimistic ~5 km/s. For each square meter you need 105 Pa*1m2/(5 km/s) = 20 kg/s of material. ITER has a few hundred square meter surface area. Let's say 500 for simplicity. Then your jets shoot 10 tonnes of material into the plasma per second. The material is essentially at zero temperature compared to the plasma temperature. Heating 10 tonnes per second to 100 million K requires a power of a few petawatt - millions of gigawatts (for less than a gigawatt of electricity). At the given pressure you can only support maybe a few grams of material, so your system breaks down after a microsecond - time for the jets to move just a few millimeters. The system never reaches any sort of stable operation. The numbers just don't work out at all.
 
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