Fusion research idea involving more pressure

[Xebiqe]

TL;DR

Could it be that fusion reactors require more pressure?

Greetings!

I have been thinking about fusion reactors and got an idea; what if fusion reactors just require more pressure along with the heat? I'm not active herel so I'm not sure if that is already underway, just thinking about the stars.

- Xebiqe

 

[berkeman]

Welcome to PF.

What type of fusion reactor are you asking about? How do you propose to exert more pressure on the plasma in that configuration?

 

[Xebiqe]

Thank you.

I mean all types of fusion reactors. I am not sure whether this would work, but I hope that pumping—and pressurize with it—inert gas to the reactor can achieve enough pressure. I hope that this gives you more ideas.

 

[berkeman]

I mean all types of fusion reactors. I am not sure whether this would work, but I hope that pumping—and pressurize with it—inert gas to the reactor can achieve enough pressure.

Presumably you mean Magnetic Confinement reactors (Tokamaks and similar), and not Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) reactors. Magnetic confinement is used because any contact with the reactor walls (or a pressurized inert gas) cools the plasma, which is counterproductive to achieving the combination of high pressure and high temperature that is required to encourage fusion reactions to occur in the plasma.

It will help you a lot to do some reading about how fusion reactors work, and read at least about the basic plasma physics involved. I'll try to add some links here for further reading for you. I don't know your background in physics (and specifically plasma physics), so I'll try to keep the links to more basic reading. I can recommend more advanced references if you like.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_(physics)#Plasma_science_and_technology