Development of a set of software tools based on the effective radius approximation for simulating the kinetics of processes in the advanced thermonuclear reactors with D- 3He fuel

The article is devoted to the development of an alternative fuel cycle concept for fusion reactors with magnetic plasma confinement using D- 3 He fuel. Turning to this type of fusion fuel is believed to solve the key problems of thermonuclear fusion installations with traditional D-T fuel: the need to handle radioactive tritium and the so-called first wall problem arising from the intense flux of high-energy neutrons from the fusion reactor. In this connection, the problem arises of improving the accuracy of predicting the characteristics of the low-radioactive D- 3 He fuel cycle of fusion reactors with magnetic plasma confinement and determining ways to improve the efficiency of their operation, taking into account its peculiarities: higher realization temperatures, as a consequence, higher losses for bremsstrahlung and synchrotron radiation and the use of magnetic configurations with a high value of the parameter β (β – ratio of the plasma thermal pressure to the magnetic pressure). To solve this problem, it is necessary to have a set of computational-theoretical approaches to the modelling of processes in plasma and a detailed description of the plasma energy balance, based on modern data on the rates of thermonuclear reactions and a correct description of energy losses for bremsstrahlung and synchrotron radiation. The paper presents a set of software tools for calculating the rates of the main thermonuclear reactions based on the effective radius approximation, analytical parametrizations of losses for both types of radiation, taking into account relativistic effects, and for modelling the kinetics of processes occurring in the plasma, combined with the determination of the parameters of the Lawson criterion and the fusion triple product for different modes of D- 3 He fuel use (fully catalyzed or fully uncatalyzed modes, 3 He self-supply mode, various power gain factors and various fusion reactor sizes).