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Russia is working on a hybrid reactor, the fusion component for it has already been tested


Russian scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University have created and tested a thermonuclear component for a hybrid reactor. As reported by RIA Novosti, the concept of such a reactor was proposed back in 2019, and research has been carried out in this direction since then. It is assumed that the development of Russian scientists will be compact in size. The hybrid reactor will have a capacity of about 60-100 megawatts and will be able to operate for more than eight years without reloading the fuel. Scientists hope to find a use for it in remote regions to obtain electricity, heat and hydrogen fuel.

Hybrid reactor systems incorporate the best from conventional reactors (reliability) and thermonuclear power (economy and environmental safety). They consist of a source of thermonuclear neutrons and an active zone in which the fission of heavy nuclei takes place. The fuel is a mixture of weapons-grade plutonium and thorium, which replaces uranium-238 and significantly reduces the volume of radioactive waste.

Unlike conventional reactors, the state of the core in a hybrid system is regulated by the addition of neutrons from a fusion source. According to the authors of the study, the nuclear material in such reactors is not in a critical state, but in a state close to critical. It is this feature that distinguishes them favorably from conventional reactors and completely excludes the likelihood of an uncontrolled chain reaction.

During the tests, scientists have determined the optimal parameters of a thermonuclear neutron source to constantly maintain the core of the hybrid system in a controlled state close to critical. In addition, they were able to study the effect of the “wave of nuclear fission”, which occurs after a single pulse of thermonuclear combustion. These studies, in their opinion, should accelerate the development of thermonuclear energy.

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