In the two-component torus concepts at present under consideration,high-energy neutral beams are injected tangentially into relatively small tokamak devices. The resulting fast ions are localized near the centre of the plasma discharge. Here we consider the effect of radial variations of density and temperature (of both the fast ion and target plasma components) on the overall power balance and break-even condition. For the radial profiles analysed, the minimum values of NeτE and Te required for break-even in a pure wet-wood burner decrease significantly for peaked fast-ion distributions. The implications of the reduced NeτE requirements on machine size are examined for the transport scaling predicted in the trapped-ion regime.