Evaluation of thermal and beam-thermal p-¹¹B fusion reactions in the EHL-2 spherical torus

This paper presents the first comprehensive simulation study of p-¹¹B fusion reactions in a spherical torus. We developed relevant program modules for fusion reactions based on energetic particle simulation frameworks and analyzed the two main fusion channels: thermal and beam-thermal. Using EHL-2 design parameters with n_\mathrmb\mathrmo\mathrmr\mathrmo\mathrmn=0.07n_\mathrmi\mathrmo\mathrmn and a hydrogen beam at 200 keV and 1 MW, our simulation indicates that p-¹¹B reactions produce approximately 1.5\times 10^15 α particles per second (~ 0.7 kW) from the thermal channel, and 5.3\times 10^14 (~ 0.25 kW) from the beam-thermal channel. We conducted parameter scans to establish a solid physics foundation for the high ion temperature conditions ( T_\mathrmi > 26\;\mathrmk\mathrme\mathrmV) designed for EHL-2. This work also laid the groundwork for studying various operation modes to explore different reaction channels. The simulation results suggest that the conditions in EHL-2 could be sufficient for investigating p-¹¹B thermonuclear reactions. In addition, we found that EHL-2 offered good confinement for energetic particles, allowing us to research the interactions between these ions and plasmas. This research enhances our understanding of burning plasma physics.