Fusion-Fission Hybrid Could Destroy Nuclear Waste

[Sabre]

Article

Physicists at The University of Texas at Austin have designed a new system that, when fully developed, would use fusion to eliminate most of the transuranic waste produced by nuclear power plants.

The invention could help combat global warming by making nuclear power cleaner and thus a more viable replacement of carbon-heavy energy sources, such as coal.

The idea behind the compact Fusion-Fission Hybrid is that fusion can be used to burn nuclear waste, producing energy and getting rid of much of the long-lived waste generated by nuclear reactors.
View the complete illustration of the new nuclear waste destruction system, demonstrating how a fusion-fission hybrid, made possible by the Super X Divertor invented by University of Texas at Austin physicists, could integrate into the nuclear fuel cycle.

"We have created a way to use fusion to relatively inexpensively destroy the waste from nuclear fission," says Mike Kotschenreuther, senior research scientist with the Institute for Fusion Studies (IFS) and Department of Physics. "Our waste destruction system, we believe, will allow nuclear power—a low carbon source of energy—to take its place in helping us combat global warming."

Very very cool. When I worked at the Vitreous State Lab, I saw some very cool things happening with nuclear waste... this seems like the next logical step!

[complacent]

There's so much cool stuff happening with energy right now. I can't wait to see the scene ten years from now.

[schvin]

this is very exciting!

re energy in general, i'd highly recommend this book (free ebook) if you haven't read it already: http://www.withouthotair.com/

can't recall if i posted it up here or not, but i can't recommend highly enough how interesting it was to read through and use as a base to jump deeper into the topics.

[Sabre]

Awesome, thanks! I'm grabbing the book now and will read it this week

[complacent]

ditto!