Solid hollow core fuel for fusion-fission engine

Abstract

A fuel pebble for use in a fusion-fission engine includes a buffer material and a fertile or fissile fuel shell surrounding the buffer material. The fuel pebble also includes a containment shell surrounding the fertile or fissile fuel shell. The containment shell includes silicon carbide. The fuel pebble further includes a composite material layer surrounding the containment shell and a cladding layer surrounding the composite material layer.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 997,780, filed on Oct. 4, 2007, entitled “Hybrid Fusion-Fission Reactor,” and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61 / 130,200, filed on May 29, 2008, entitled “Hybrid Fusion-Fission Reactor Using Laser Inertial Confinement Fusion,” the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.STATEMENT AS TO RIGHTS TO INVENTIONS MADE UNDER FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT[0002]The United States Government has rights in this invention pursuant to Contract No. DE-AC52-07NA27344 between the United States Department of Energy and Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Projections by the Energy Information Agency and current Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenarios expect worldwide electric power demand to double from its current level...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]According to another embodiment of the present invention, a method of fabricating a fuel pebble for a fusion-fission engine is provided. The method includes forming a fertile or fissile shell and enclosing a buffer material inside the fertile or fissile shell. The method also includes forming a containment shell surrounding the fertile or fissile shell and wrapping the containment shell with a composite material layer. The method further includes forming a wear and corrosion-resistant cladding layer surrounding the composite material layer. The cladding also helps forms the hermetic pressure boundary for fission gas containment.

[0011]Numerous benefits are achieved by way of the present invention over conventional techniques. For example, the present technique provides a robust fuel for nuclear reactors that can achieve high burn-up of fertile or fissile material without failure of the fuel pebble. Additionally, embodiments of the present invention provide a fuel pebble that has a high mass fraction of fertile material. Moreover, wall stresses in fuel pebbles described herein are reduced at comparable final inventory of metal atoms burn-up levels in comparison with conventional fuels, such as tri-structural iso-tropic (TRISO) fuels. Depending upon the embodiment, one or more of these benefits may be achieved. These and other benefits will be described in more detail throughout the present specification and more particularly below.

Problems solved by technology

Several factors, however, make its long-term sustainability difficult.

Thus, significant technical challenges remain to achieve an economy powered by pure inertial confinement fusion energy.

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