HYPERFUSE: a hypervelocity inertial confinement system for fusion energy production and fission waste transmutation

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:5266113

Makowitz, H; Powell, J R; Wiswall, R

Parametric system studies of an inertial confinement fusion (ICF) reactor system to transmute fission products from an LWR economy have been carried out. The ICF reactors would produce net power in addition to transmuting fission products. The particular ICF concept examined is an impact fusion approach termed HYPERFUSE, in which hypervelocity pellets, traveling on the order of 100 to 300 km/sec, collide with each other or a target block in a reactor chamber and initiate a thermonuclear reaction. The DT fusion fuel is contained in a shell of the material to be transmuted, e.g., /sup 137/Cs, /sup 90/Sr, /sup 129/I, /sup 99/Tc, etc. The 14-MeV fusion neutrons released during the pellet burn cause transmutation reactions (e.g., (n,2n), (n,..cap alpha..), (n,..gamma..), etc.) that convert the long-lived fission products (FP's) either to stable products or to species that decay with a short half-life to a stable product. The transmutation parametric studies conclude that the design of the hypervelocity projectiles should emphasize the achievement of high densities in the transmutation regions (greater than the DT fusion fuel density), as well as the DT ignition and burn criterion (rho R=1.0 to 3.0) requirements.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH00016
• OSTI ID: 5266113
• Report Number(s): BNL-28067; CONF-800743-7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

060700* -- Fusion Fuels-- Waste Management-- (1980-1987)
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700208 -- Fusion Power Plant Technology-- Inertial Confinement Technology
CONFINEMENT
FISSION PRODUCTS
FUELS
IMPACT FUSION
INERTIAL CONFINEMENT
ISOTOPES
MANAGEMENT
PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS
PLASMA CONFINEMENT
PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
THERMONUCLEAR FUELS
THERMONUCLEAR REACTORS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING