![]() The answer is multi-faceted, but in essence fusion-fission hybrids use an extremely intricate system to solve a waste problem that could potentially be minimised by less complex technologies. Fusion-fission: a viable hybrid?īut with a technology that has been known and discussed since the 1950s, there is an obvious question: if the fusion-fission hybrid is so advantageous, why hasn’t it been pursued more strongly in the past five decades, and why does it remain on the drawing board today? With nuclear waste destruction and recycling high on the global agenda, the governments of Russia and China have also invested in hybrid systems, with Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom reportedly aiming to develop its own fusion-fission thermonuclear plant design this year, and China looking to build its first hybrid reactor by 2030. “If you can find a way to do nuclear power that doesn't have the downsides, the risky, runaway meltdowns, or things like that, it's a real win for the planet.”Īpollo joins a growing group of organisations working on fusion-fission hybrid technologies, including the University of Texas at Austin’s Institute for Fusion Studies, which has discussed its transuranic waste-destroying fusion system. “I think most of the more thoughtful environmentalists now view nuclear as good,” Cassidy told Bloomberg in an April interview, while remaining tight-lipped on the finer details of Apollo’s technology. Apollo has even noted that it has received its first order from an unnamed international customer. The company, led by former Google vice-president Mike Cassidy and plasma physicist Ben Longmier, is developing a fusion-fission hybrid reactor design that it claims will be zero-emissions, inherently safe, cheap to build and run, and with a power output range running from 5MW to 1GW.Īble to be built at almost any site due to its safe design, Apollo notes that its plant would “cost less per megawatt of output” and be “available in configurations which are affordable for even the smallest communities”, while operating costs would be “cost-competitive with other sources of power, including fossil fuels, wind, geothermal and solar”. In April, start-up company Apollo Fusion brought the hybrid concept back into the spotlight when it updated its website and shed some light on its plans. In terms of safety, proponents say the concept would be inherently meltdown-proof because it operates in subcritical conditions and the fission would not be self-sustaining. So with fusion feeding fission, a plant could theoretically operate more cleanly and efficiently, massively reducing waste and proliferation concerns while providing a way to use fusion even if positive net energy has not been achieved. By using fusion as a fuel, a hybrid reactor would be able to use any uranium isotope while capitalising on the higher energy output of fission. Conventional fission reactors require one specific isotope of uranium, U-235 (or plutonium-239), which constitutes only 1% of raw uranium deposits, to drive the fission chain reaction. What are the advantages of such a hybrid system? For a start, using fusion-derived neutrons to feed fission reactions would massively expand the fuel available to run plants. The fusion-fission hybrid concept is envisaged as a system that balances the advantages and disadvantages of the two nuclear generation paradigms fission creates large amounts of energy per reaction, while fusion creates less energy per reaction but can generate abundant neutrons without the need for a chain reaction.Ī fusion-fission hybrid reactor, then, would use a fusion reactor to provide neutrons to an encapsulating ‘blanket’ of fissile materials, so fusion is essentially used as a stable fuel source for traditional fission-based energy generation. The idea of a fusion-fission hybrid reactor has existed since the early 50s, with the earliest reference attributed to Russian nuclear physicist Andrei Sakharov. ![]() But while the likes of ITER, the National Ignition Facility and a host of start-ups and academic labs around the world continue to hammer away at the fusion chestnut, a decades-old alternative concept that combines fusion and fission has resurfaced. Is pure fusion truly only a matter of years away? Opinions vary due to the formidable technical challenges that remain to be solved. “This will allow fusion power to be achieved in years, not decades.” The fusion-fission hybrid concept “The ST40 is a machine that will show fusion temperatures are possible in compact, cost-effective reactors,” said Tokamak Energy CEO Dr David Kingham.
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