Mathematical model of fuel layer degradation when the laser target is heated by thermal radiation in the reactor working chamber

We propose a mathematical model of the changes occurring in the geometrical properties of the deuterium–tritium layer on the laser target in the process of its insertion into the reactor working chamber. The model is a parabolic equation of general form in spherical coordinates with nonlinear boundary conditions on a moving boundary. We show that under physically justified assumptions this problem may be regarded as a Stefan problem for a singularly perturbed parabolic equation. The first terms of the solution series are written out. Numerical calculations of the fuel layer degradation time are presented for a real target.