The thermomechanical processes occurring in the blanket of a heavy-ion inertial thermonuclear fusion reactor are analyzed. The heat-release density in the structural materials and the blanket coolant is calculated on the basis of prescribed characteristics of the neutron pulse from a ~1 GJ microexplosion of a target. Calculations of the nonstationary thermoelastic stress and pressure fields as well the temperature of the wall and blanket coolant are performed using simple one-dimensional models. The amplitude and frequency characteristics of the stress and pressure waves generated by the energy released in the microexplosion are obtained. The thermal relaxation processes occurring in the elements of the blanket between successive microexplosions are analyzed.The energy release in the chamber of an inertial thermonuclear fusion reactor as a result of cyclically repeating microexplosions of a target is determined by high-energy fluxes of charged particles, neutrons, and radiation. The energy distribution of a single microexplosion between these fluxes depends on the target structure, first and foremost, its mass, which in turn is determined by the method used to compress and ignite the thermonuclear fuel. The energy transferred by the neutron flux is usually 70-75% of the total energy of the microexplosion. The effect of the energy fluxes on the chamber wall is also determined by the travel distance of the ions, protons, and photons in the atmosphere and the chamber walls as well as the duration of the energy-release pulse. The travel distance of the photons and the high-energy ions is short, equal to 1-10 μm in condensed media. The travel distance of neutrons, as a rule, exceeds 10 cm. Such a significant difference of the travel distances makes it possible to study the protection of the first wall and the strength of the blanket structure independently.The present work analyzes the thermomechanical processes which occur in the chamber blanket in an inertial thermonuclear fusion reactor as a result of neutron energy release. Rapid pulsed energy release results in the appearance of variable stress fields in the structural materials. The intensity of these fields must remain below the limits which ensure a long service life [1]. The variable stresses arising in the blanket of the reactor were calculated assuming isochronous energy release, exponentially decreasing in an elastic semi-bounded medium. For a pulse of finite duration, the maximum thermal stresses depend strongly on the ratio of the duration of the energy-release pulse and the acoustic passage time in the layer of the materials with localized energy release [2]. To decrease the amplitude of the stress pulsations, this ratio must be increased.