Hybrid Fission-Fusion Nuclear Reactor System (a.k.a. APNRSYS)

By RE CASTEL

The Hybrid Fission-Fusion Nuclear Reactor System is a fission-initiated, high burnup, variable neutron spectrum, hybrid fission-fusion reactor. It employs an active-passive safety system, which makes it a very safe nuclear reactor system.

This hybrid fission-fusion reactor design facilitates the high burnup of the fission fuels. It is therefore a cleaner reactor system that produces less radioactive waste byproducts.

This hybrid fission-fusion reactor design is also a breeder reactor design that can be used to produce more fission fuels and thus help extend the existing natural nuclear fuel resources.

The author-designer of this nuclear reactor system believes that this could help solve the problem of our increasing global energy needs.

This hybrid fission-fusion reactor design is actually a synthesis of old ideas – that of the "aqueous homogeneous reactor" design and the "electro-deposition process" used in the infamous cold fusion design. In this new hybrid fission-fusion reactor design, the electro-deposition process is used in combination with the aqueous homogeneous reactor design.

The hybrid fission-fusion reactor design employs the electro-deposition process on a mixture of heavy-water and soluble fission fuel to initiate and sustain nuclear fission reactions that produce the heavier hydrogen isotopes and induce nuclear fusion reactions in the core configuration now presented in the two-page e-paper.

The nuclear fission reactions and Tritium production are a sure thing in this design. But the extent of the occurrence of nuclear fusion reactions is yet to be quantified.

This webpage is amazing because, compared to the other webpages in this website, it gets a lot of visits by people from various places.

So far, the logs indicate that visitors, at least those that can be traced, come from China, Mongolia, Korea, Japan, Hongkong, Taiwan, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Iran, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Israel, Lebanon, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Rumania, the UK, Canada and the US, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, and lots of other places.

Particularly amazing is the fact that many of the traced IPs belong to various universities, research institutions, nuclear facilities, and national labs. So, perhaps the nuclear technology presented here could get some research and development after all. I hope this nuclear technology gets used for peaceful purposes.

I've had criticisms from people who say that the fission-fusion technology presented here will not work. They particularly point to the electro-deposition process of the "cold fusion" fiasco – the US people especially; they're saying that fusion cannot be achieved by the electro-deposition process. But they've clearly missed the point I am suggesting. They've failed to consider that there is the possibility of fusion if the Tritium-producing CANDU approach is enhanced and that I am not at all suggesting "cold fusion".

I have actually mentioned the idea of an enhanced CANDU approach elsewhere. What I'm suggesting is simply that an enhanced CANDU approach shows promise of sustainable fusion reactions. Deuterium-Tritium fusion is achieved when Deuterium and Tritium are packed in certain core configurations where they are subjected to high neutron bombardment.

I have posted here the simplest core configuration that can facilitate the fission-fusion reactions. I have also studied other core configurations that can facilitate the fission-fusion reactions. But these other configurations could involve greater fusion reactions and thus are a bit riskier. So, I thought it prudent not to publish those other core configurations.

The hybrid fission-fusion setup is not as clean as the pure fusion setup. That may be true. But, it is also true that the pure fusion setup is not really that clean. Obviously, the more massive containment vessels/devices of a fusion reactor will incur humungous irradiation during its operation and will become more voluminous radioactive nuclear waste than the nuclear waste presented by the inherently smaller nuclear fission reactors.

The hybrid fission-fusion setup that I am proposing could actually be cleaner than both the conventional fission setup and the pure fusion setup – especially if the high burnup of the fission fuel is pursued.

I have made inquiries at the DOE and have suggested to Sec. Steven Chu (May 27, 2010) regarding the investigation of the nuclear tech I am proposing. So far, I've received a low-profile response via the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences.

Al Opdenaker of the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences told me (Jul 6, 2010) that "intensive work by individuals from all over the United States, Russia, China, and Europe" has already been conducted. It culminated in a workshop titled "Research Needs of Fusion-Fission Hybrid Systems" (September 30-October 2, 2009), which involved "over 100 scientists and engineers from both the fusion and the fission research communities."

Remarkably, Opdenaker told me that "the design of a hybrid facility based on the use of electro-deposition processes to achieve fission-induced nuclear fusion was not one of the ideas considered by or presented to the workshop." So, it appears that the hybrid approach I am suggesting is actually new.

I've been adviced to submit a research proposal. But I think if the DOE really wanted to advance the research on fission-fusion hybrids, they ought to have suggested outright collaboration with their people. (Although, perhaps their people are already verifying the idea I've suggested.)

Thus, I don't know that Sec. Chu or Pres. Obama want to advance the research on cleaner nuclear energy systems. The way I see it, the response I received gives no indication that they want to. So, it will not be a surprise if the US will lag behind France, Canada, China, Russia, Korea, Japan, Pakistan and India in this area of research – especially if the frequency of visits to this webpage by people from the said places is an indication of the interest in this field.

This new nuclear tech shows promise of extending the global nuclear fission fuel resources because its breeder reactor capability is obvious. There is clearly the danger of nuclear proliferation. But that appears to be inevitable already. What would make that especially troublesome is if the current nuclear states, especially the US, will fail to conduct the early investigation of this new nuclear tech and get caught without enough knowledge of this new tech and thus fail to anticipate and control its consequences.

I've received a few inquiries, to which I did not respond with any more details. I believe it would be irresponsible if I disclosed all of my ideas just like that. But I still wish the more responsible people would consider my nuclear tech proposal...

The Active-Passive Nuclear Reactor (APNR) vs. the Integral Fast Reactor (IFR)

The proposed Hybrid Fission-Fusion Nuclear Reactor System (a.k.a. APNRSYS) may actually be considered as a simplication of the Integral Fast Reactor system.

The following schematics illustrates the Integral Fast Reactor system, once touted as the successor to the old generation nuclear reactor systems. Especially note the electrorefining aspect of the IFR system.

The electrorefining aspect of the IFR system is basically incorporated as an integral part of the proposed Hybrid Fission-Fusion Nuclear Reactor System.

Note that the fuel mix in the proposed Hybrid Fission-Fusion Nuclear Reactor System is essentially the salt mixture in the electrorefining setup shown in the IFR system.

The Hybrid Fission-Fusion Nuclear Reactor System eliminates the elaborate spent-fuel reprocessing stages shown in the illustration by employing the electrodeposition (essentially the electrorefining) process in the reactor core.

The distinctive features of the APNR are (1) the special configuration of the electrodes and their integration in the reactor core and (2) the storage and composition of the fuel mix.

Underground Nuclear Power Plants vs. Aboveground Nuclear Power Plants

Because of Japan's nuclear accident after the earthquake and tsunami events, I am all the more encouraged to promote the reactor design presented on this page.

The underground installation for the Hybrid Fission-Fusion Nuclear Reactor System is an approach that I advocate. As my reaction to the recent Japanese nuclear accident, I present the following to show the merits of underground nuclear power plants.

The inadequacy of the protective and the emergency response systems used in aboveground nuclear power plants intallations is now clarified by their confirmed vulnerability against natural disasters and by the failure of the conventional emergency cooling system and the desperate procedures used in response to the Japanese nuclear accident.

It is now therefore obvious that aboveground nuclear power plants are inherently unsafe and that underground nuclear power plants are significantly safer, especially in terms of –

(1) the ease in facilitating emergency cooling systems and procedures;

(2) the protective capability against wartime or terrorists bombardment attacks – such as that facilitated by air strikes or by surface artillery or rocket fire or even by bunker-busting strikes if the installations are sufficiently deep underground;

(3) the protective capability against natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis (if the underground structure is appropriately designed);

(4) the ease in retiring the nuclear power plants since they are already buried underground.

As illustrated in the schematics below, underground nuclear power plants can readily be designed with emergency water cooling systems that use simple low-maintenance but secured pipes that employ gravity for the emergency waterflow to the nuclear reactor containment buildings.

Obviously, underground nuclear power plants will have no need for water pumps that may get damaged or that may become useless once electrical power is unavailable.

Also, with underground nuclear power plants, there would be no need for the desperate procedures that employ water-bearing aircraft, helicopters, and the like, in response to nuclear accidents – that is, at least at the outset of an accident such as has occurred in Japan.

The emergency response to accidents in underground nuclear power plants can mainly be done using cheaper and more efficient on-the-ground heavy equipment.

Also, the active-passive safety system employed by the reactor design presented here is superior protection against meltdown accidents. In these reactors the nuclear chain reaction stops once the electro-deposition process is reversed (active safety) or naturally stops when electrical power to the core electrodes ceases (passive safety).

The main advantage of the Hybrid Fission-Fusion Nuclear Reactor System is the fact that the critical conditions, that facilitate the nuclear chain reactions, occur only when the appropriate configuration of the electro-deposition of the nuclear fuel is achieved at the core. Without it, the high-level nuclear reactions cease.

For further inquiries, email to kinematicrelativity@gmail.com. Or see BridTech Innovations, Inc.