University of Wisconsin-Madison

Because of side or secondary reactions (e.g., the D in the D³He fuel reacting with other D instead of ³He) some fuel cycles have more radioactivity associated with them than others. Clearly the most attractive fuel cycle, in terms of radioactivity produced are those using the ³He fuel cycle. It is almost certain that the p¹¹B cycle will not work in Maxwellian plasmas (i. e., Tokamaks, Mirrors, ICF, etc.) because of the bremsstrahlung associated with high Z elements in a hot plasma. It may be possible to run ¹¹B in an IEF device. See Lecture 26.