This article doesn't really explain it but it seems the idea is to use a specific form of fusion that produces neutrons. And then the fission component soaks up these neutrons and provides more heat and energy to further feed the fusion.
I believe this paper is describing this approach. It is highly technical and I am about to go to bed. So I will go over it during a morning meeting I don't have to pay to much attention to tomorrow and report back if my initial skimming is correct.
edit: so that is the theory. The fission and fusion processes self reinforce. The two hydrogen isotopes (Deuterium and Tritium) will produce a neutron that can induce fission if it hits the Uranium isotope. And the Uranium fission can produce tritium and fast high energy tritium can then fuse with the more abundant Deuterium. The paper is rather old, so I did realize that the approach has changed from this paper slightly. Basically, from OPs article I seems that the approach is that with this hybrid process, they can use lasers to ignite the process, and it is not fully self-sustaining. So then it will run for a while, producing more energy than needed to ignite it, but because the laser pulses produces a wave of plasma that burns out, the engineering constrains on the containment and pressures are relaxed.
I am not sure if that is true. I am not up on the specific isotopes that are traditionally considered fuel and waste, but the thing I linked is proposing a specific uranium isotope. The process works best if the fission produces a Tritium nucleus. The main this is that you are getting the bulk of energy out of the fusion, and therefore using less fission material.
OPs article seems to imply that it is getting majority of energy from fusion, the feedback process means that they believe the can ignite it in a pulse that will quickly burn out, but produce more energy than put in. This makes it a lot easier in terms of the traditional hurdle towards fusion, that for the continuous process you need a very dense high pressure plasma, which makes the engineering hard.
This article doesn't really explain it but it seems the idea is to use a specific form of fusion that produces neutrons. And then the fission component soaks up these neutrons and provides more heat and energy to further feed the fusion.
https://sci-hub.se/10.1016/s0920-3796%2889%2980060-2
I believe this paper is describing this approach. It is highly technical and I am about to go to bed. So I will go over it during a morning meeting I don't have to pay to much attention to tomorrow and report back if my initial skimming is correct.
edit: so that is the theory. The fission and fusion processes self reinforce. The two hydrogen isotopes (Deuterium and Tritium) will produce a neutron that can induce fission if it hits the Uranium isotope. And the Uranium fission can produce tritium and fast high energy tritium can then fuse with the more abundant Deuterium. The paper is rather old, so I did realize that the approach has changed from this paper slightly. Basically, from OPs article I seems that the approach is that with this hybrid process, they can use lasers to ignite the process, and it is not fully self-sustaining. So then it will run for a while, producing more energy than needed to ignite it, but because the laser pulses produces a wave of plasma that burns out, the engineering constrains on the containment and pressures are relaxed.
So it's magic. Got it.
Physics with Chinese characteristics.
Okay but why even start with fusion in the first place. Regular fission makes lots of neutrons. Like there is not a shortage of neutrons.
If you just get enough fissionable material in one place it will make enough neutrons to keep going
It allows one to use other materials for fission. Notably some nuclear waste can be used to make more energy.
I am not sure if that is true. I am not up on the specific isotopes that are traditionally considered fuel and waste, but the thing I linked is proposing a specific uranium isotope. The process works best if the fission produces a Tritium nucleus. The main this is that you are getting the bulk of energy out of the fusion, and therefore using less fission material.
deleted by creator
OPs article seems to imply that it is getting majority of energy from fusion, the feedback process means that they believe the can ignite it in a pulse that will quickly burn out, but produce more energy than put in. This makes it a lot easier in terms of the traditional hurdle towards fusion, that for the continuous process you need a very dense high pressure plasma, which makes the engineering hard.