The thermonuclear burn-up in deuterated methane (CD4)

The thermonuclear burn-up of highly compressed deuterated methane (CD₄) is considered in the spherical geometry. The minimal required values of the burn-up parameter x = icons/Journals/Common/rho" ALT="rho" ALIGN="MIDDLE"/>₀ r_f are determined for various temperatures T and densities icons/Journals/Common/rho" ALT="rho" ALIGN="TOP"/>₀. It is shown that thermonuclear burn-up in CD₄ becomes possible in practice if its initial density icons/Journals/Common/rho" ALT="rho" ALIGN="TOP"/>₀ exceeds icons/Journals/Common/approx" ALT="approx" ALIGN="TOP"/>5 × 10³ g cm^-3. Burn-up in CD₂ T₂ methane requires significantly (icons/Journals/Common/approx" ALT="approx" ALIGN="TOP"/> 100 times) lower compressions. The developed approach can be used in order to compute the critical burn-up parameters in an arbitrary fuel which contains deuterium.