China’s Xinghuo Project: World’s First Hybrid Fusion-Fission Nuclear Plant to Launch by 2030

Relevance: GS III Sci & Tech

Why in News: By 2030, the 100 MW project with a desired Q factor higher than 30 might be completed. The ratio of energy generated to energy used to heat the plasma inside the fusion reactor is known as the Q factor.

About the Hybrid Fusion-Fission Reactor 

The idea is to breed fissile fuel from fertile materials by using a high intensity neutron flux generated by a fusion reactor to promote a nuclear fission process.

• Consists of a nuclear fusion reactor core encircled by a blanket of fertile material (such as uranium-238 or thorium-232) where deuterium and tritium nuclei fuse to generate helium and a fast neutron.
• Important characteristics of the hybrid reactor capitalizes on the differences between the benefits of fission and fusion: fission reactors are “power rich” and “neutron poor,” whereas fusion reactors are “neutron rich” and “power poor.”
• Because the primary function of hybrid reactors is the creation of neutrons rather than energy, they require less fusion power than pure reactors.
• The blanket’s neutron flow may convert long-lived radioactive waste into shorter-lived, less hazardous trash that is simpler to dispose of.
• By breeding, a hybrid reactor would generate enough fissile fuel. Fertile materials can be transformed into fissile materials (such as uranium-233 or plutonium-239) by fusion neutrons, expanding the availability of fuel.
• The concepts of nuclear fusion and fission Fission: Releases energy and neutrons when heavier atomic nuclei split into lighter ones.
• A large amount of energy is released when light atomic nuclei unite to form a heavier nucleus.

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