Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Commentary
  • Published:

Fusion–fission hybrids revisited

Nature Physics volume 5, pages 370–372 (2009)Cite this article

With the increasingly urgent need to find solutions to the impending energy crisis, there is growing interest within the fusion community in revisiting the concept of the fusion–fission hybrid reactor. But how soon could such reactors be realized, and could they meet the challenges of the coming century?

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: The most common hybrid design consists of a fusion reactor core surrounded by a blanket of fissile material such as uranium or thorium.

References

  1. Lidsky, L. M. Nucl. Fusion 15, 151–173 (1975).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Sakharov, A. Memoirs (transl. Lourie, R.) (Knopf, 1990).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bethe, H. Phys. Today 32, 44–51 (1979).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Moir, R. W. Nucl. Eng. Design 63, 375–394 (1981).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Gohar, Y. Fusion Eng. Design 58–59, 1097–1101 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Manheimer, W. J. Fusion Energy 25, 121–139 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Stacey, W. M. et. al. Nucl. Technol. 162, 53–79 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. https://lasers.llnl.gov/missions/energy_for_the_future/life/

  9. Kotschenreuther, M., Valanju, P. M., Mahajan, S. M. & Schneider, E. A. Fusion Eng. Design 84, 83–88 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Forsberg, C. et al. The Future of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle. MIT Energy Initiative Report (MIT, in the press).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jeffrey P. Freidberg and Andrew C. Kadak are in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139-4307, USA,

    Jeffrey P. Freidberg & Andrew C. Kadak

Authors
  1. Jeffrey P. Freidberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Andrew C. Kadak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Freidberg, J., Kadak, A. Fusion–fission hybrids revisited. Nature Phys 5, 370–372 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1288

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1288

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing