Thermonuclear Power Plants

Some of the unique features of thermonuclear power plants and the essential problems in the technical design of such plants are discussed in this paper. The thermo-nuclear reaction rate for the fusion of deuterium is calcu-lated on the basis of a similar analysis published by Gamow and Teller. The pressure, temperature, and minimum dimensions of the necessary reaction chamber are deter-mined largely by consideration of reaction quenching and energy loss near the wans. Results are presented for the power output and the efficiency of a power station utiliz-ing the deuterium fusion reaction. The comment by Greenstein that follows this paper deals particularly with the difficult problem of calculating the reaction quench-ing and energy loss rates at the wans.