Fusion breeding and pure fusion development perceptions and misperceptions

TL;DR

This paper explores fusion breeding using 14 MeV neutrons to produce fuel for thermal reactors, highlighting its potential for rapid, economical, and environmentally friendly nuclear power with low proliferation risks.

Contribution

It introduces fusion breeding as a practical approach to accelerate fuel production and discusses its advantages over pure fusion and traditional nuclear methods.

Findings

Fusion breeding can produce fuel faster than pure fusion.

It offers a cost-effective and environmentally friendly nuclear power option.

The approach has low proliferation risks.

Abstract

This paper examines fusion breeding, namely the use of 14 MeV fusion neutrons to breed $^{233}$U fuel for thermal nuclear reactors. This can be accomplished much more quickly than pure fusion. It can become main component of a power architecture that is economical, enviromentally sound and has little if any proliferation risk.