An Evaluation of Polarized Fuels in a Commercial Deuterium/Tritium Tokamak Reactor

The benefits and limitations arising from the use of polarized deuterium-tritium fuels were assessed for commercial tokamak fusion reactors. The difference in capital costs for a reactor with and without polarized fueling was quantified for two reactors, one with a beta of 0.067 and a major radius of 7 m and the second with a beta of 0.25 and a major radius of 5.25 m. The change in reactor performance was also quantified. The conclusion was that the sum of all benefits associated with the use of polarized fuels does not result in a significant improvement in the tokamak reactor economics.