RFP based Fusion-Fission Hybrid reactor model for nuclear applications

The Reversed Field Pinch (RFP) configuration looks to be an attractive option for fusion-fission hybrid reactors:the toroidal magnetic systems would be made of copper coils instead of more expensive superconductivemagnets; fusion conditions could be reached by ohmic heating only, therefore additional heating systems wouldnot be required; thefission blanket could be located in the most external part of the torus thus facilitatingmaintenance operations. The paper aims at assessing the potentialities, such as fuel fertilization and/or nuclearwaste transmutation and electricity production of a hybrid reactor with a RFP fusion core (R = 6 m, a = 1)whose conceptual design and plasma performances are based on RFX-mod, the largest RFP experiment currentlyin operation. Fusion conditions can be reached by heating a D-T plasma up to 9.6 keV by ohmic heating, gen-erated by a 20 MA plasma current induced and sustained byflux swing only. The neutronflux (2.1 × 1013fastneutron/cm2/s) is used to breed tritium in both the inner and outer blanket sections and inducefission reactionsin dedicated areas in the external blanket section where Pu + MA (60%)-Zr (40%) rods are located. Bothneutronic and safety analyses corroborate the viability of a FFH reactor with a RFP core.