Thermonuclear Instabilities and Fueling in a Tokamak Reactor

The problem of fueling is of primary importance in the conceptual design of a fusion reactor. We consider a possible mechanism of supplying fresh fuel from a cold-plasma layer at the surface of the plasma. The existence of an energetic component of ions, viz, the alpha particles, may excite unstable collective oscillations of the plasma (called the thermonuclear instabilities). Such instabilities could give rise to microscopic processes which, in principle, would allow influx of fresh fuel while helping efflux of reaction products. A three-regime model is used to understand the nature of such fueling mechanisms and the possibility of using a cold-plasma layer as a surface fueling source.