Production of muons for fusion catalysis in a magnetic mirror configuration

Conference · Wed Jun 25 04:00:00 EDT 1986

OSTI ID:5481354

Moir, R W; Chapline, Jr, G F

One possible near term application of a muon-producing magnetic-mirror scheme would be to build a high-flux neutron source for radiation damage studies. The careful arrangement of triton orbits will result in many of the ..pi../sup -/s being produced near the axis of the magnetic mirror. The pions quickly decay into muons, which are transported into a small (few-cm-diameter) reactor chamber producing approximately 1-MW/m/sup 2/ neutron flux on the chamber walls, using a laboratory accelerator and magnetic mirror. The costs of construction and operation of the triton injection accelerator probably introduces most of the uncertainty in the viability of this scheme. If a 10-..mu..A, 600 MeV neutral triton accelerator could be built for less than $100 million and operated cheaply enough, one might well bring muon-catalyzed fusion into practical use.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 5481354
• Report Number(s): UCRL-93987; CONF-860601-6; ON: DE86012811
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700205* -- Fusion Power Plant Technology-- Fuel
Heating
& Injection Systems
ACCELERATORS
BOSONS
CHARGED PARTICLES
ECONOMICS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
HADRONS
MAGNETIC FIELD CONFIGURATIONS
MAGNETIC MIRROR CONFIGURATIONS
MESONS
MUON-CATALYZED FUSION
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEOSYNTHESIS
OPEN CONFIGURATIONS
PIONS
PIONS MINUS
PSEUDOSCALAR MESONS
SYNTHESIS
THERMONUCLEAR REACTIONS
TRITONS