Statistical ignition of high density D-T fuel

In energy-oriented ICE a nondeterministic ignition process can be acceptable, provided the ignition probability be large enough. We present fuel gain calculations for D-T assemblies ignited by a supercritical spark, statistically created within a cluster of many subcritical ones, at the end of an implosion process. It is assigned the total number of sparks and the probability of having at least one of them supercritical. Comparatively to the central, single-spark approach, the multi-spark scheme is characterized by relaxed symmetry requirements. This allows to consider as realistic the achievement of higher fuel densities and gains comparable (or higher) to those typical of the single-spark approach, as evaluated for currently accepted spark convergence ratios.