SBIR Phase I: A Fusion-Fast-Fission Reactor

Award ID: 2423343

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is a safer, less expensive, proliferation-resistant hybrid nuclear technology. Previous experiments fissioned natural uranium without enrichment, thereby removing nuclear proliferation as one of the roadblocks to the use of nuclear power. The hybrid sub-critical reactor has no chain reaction and can't run away. The hybrid is cooled with helium gas which can't become radioactive. Without cooling water, a large pressure dome isn't required reducing plant cost and site size. The hybrid produces fusion neutrons without large lasers or enormous magnets while keeping its fuel at a billion times the fuel density of tokamaks. The fast fusion neutrons will fission thorium and spent reactor fuel. A good business case comes from being paid twice to fission existing nuclear waste while generating electricity. Hybrid fuel rods can be installed in existing reactors to "burn" nuclear waste on-site while reducing the time between refueling cycles. The hybrid reactor makes the best use of fusion's fast neutrons and fission's high energy density without the complications of either. A new, safer, cleaner nuclear technology can reduce carbon emissions and present environmental advantages. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to characterize the Lattice Confinement Fusion-Fast Fission of depleted uranium through time-resolved neutron spectroscopy. Lattice Confinement Fusion holds deuterium fuel in a metal lattice as an electron-screened, cold plasma at a billion times the plasma density of a tokamak. Extended Electrodynamics may provide insight into the fusion driver. Earlier experiments measured the fast fission of deuterium-loaded natural uranium and thorium by high-resolution gamma (HPGe) spectroscopy, alpha/beta scintillator spectroscopy, and solid-state nuclear track detectors. Neutron energies were calculated to average 6.4 MeV. Phase I will use these diagnostics and measure the fast neutron spectrum with multiple neutron scintillator spectrometers with 500 MHz sampling rates and 200 keV energy resolution from 300 keV to 20 MeV. We expect to observe the 2.45 MeV Deuterium Deuterium (DD), 14.1 MeV Deuterium Tritium (DT) fusion neutrons and conventional neutron fission spectra peaking at 1 MeV, averaging 2 MeV with a Maxwellian tail past 10 MeV. Phase I control, and active experiments will be shielded against cosmogenic neutrons. Four sets of ten-day runs are planned with four simultaneous micro-reactors per run. The neutron flux, drive currents, and voltages will determine the scaling efficacy of a fusion-fast-fission sub-critical hybrid reactor technology. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Program Director: Mara E. Schindelholz