Fusion-fission hybrid pilot reactor for sustainable energy transition

1. Project Title

Fusion-fission hybrid pilot reactor for sustainable energy transition
PRIN  2022
Period: 28/09/2023 - 28/02/2026

2. Project Description

Our project aims at producing for the first time a feasibility study for a pilot FFHR (Fusion-Fission Hybrid Reactor) based on a deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion Reversed Field Pinch (RFP) core. The RFP is a fusion magnetic configuration alternative to the tokamak, with lower magnetic field. Our pilot FFHR exploits the unique physics of the RFP and its engineering advantages.
The project will valorize one of the major Italian research infrastructures, the RFX-mod RFP fusion device and will integrate the expertise on RFP at Consorzio RFX in Padova (where University of Padova is a partner).
We want to test the idea that the RFP could represent a magnetic confinement fusion device easier than tokamak as a nuclear waste burner. The focus will be on exploring the physics of the system and to lay out a technologically simple solution to cope with long life nuclear waste, a problem still open and which will become particularly critical for Italy when its waste will come back after their reprocessing in other  Countries.

3. Project Objectives

  • The study is devoted to propose the preliminary layout of a pilot plant where to test, on a small scale and with reduced performances, the main features of the RFP FFHR in terms of neutron production from D-T fusion, lithium fertilization for tritium generation and minor actinides transmutation for nuclear waste reduction.
  • Within the limits of the available budget the feasibility study will address plasma performances, the coupling of the plasma neutron source with the test blankets neutronics, fission and fusion blankets designs, plant dimensions and fusion-fission interdependencies of the main components to derive a realistic operation scenario.

4. Partner and Stakeholder Involved

Coordinator: UNIPD
Accademics: 

  • UNIGE
  • UNIROMA1

Industrialists::

  • ENEA

5. Budget and Financing

Budget: 328105.27€
Financing institution: Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca
Call: PRIN – Bando 2022

6. Expected Impacts and Benefits

  • A significant impact of this project could be that of supporting the effort to demonstrate that Fusion Fission Hybrid Reactors (FFHR) can contribute in a very important way to minor actinides burn-up and transmutation.
  • The potential of this project is also that of accelerating the development of FFHR by showing that the RFP approach to the fusion core could leverage on the intrinsic technological simplicity of the RFP devices. Due to the relatively lower magnetic field with respect to the tokamak, and to its dynamics strongly driven by self-organization processes, the RFP needs easier engineering and a RFP FFHR might strongly benefit from it, both on the technical and on the financial side
  • The outcome of the part of the project which deals with tritium generation in the appropriate TBM might be of interest for the final design of the test blanket modules in ITER and of their control systems
  • The dissemination of the results in public events will also help in stimulating the debate on the role of nuclear energy for the energy transition

7. Contacts and References

Guglielmo Lomonaco
guglielmo.lomonaco@unige.it 
Università degli Studi di Genova

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