4. Burning Plasma

This chapter gives a brief introduction to thermonuclear burning of fusion core plasmas. To begin with, we discuss some fusion reactions important for energy production on Earth. For each reaction, the reaction Q-value, the graph of reaction cross-section, and the kinetic energies of reaction products are given. After explaining the necessity of plasma for energy generation, we introduce a concept of thermonuclear reaction and define the reaction rate parameter (or reactivity in short). The reactivity curves are also shown as a function of the plasma temperature. Magnetic confinement and inertial confinement are two main approaches to achieve the fusion core plasma. Necessary conditions for thermonuclear ignition in these schemes are described. Finally, we give rough estimates of the fractional burn-up of fuel in core plasmas.