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Politics : Politics of Energy
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To: FJB who wrote (23911)10/20/2010 1:44:19 PM
From: TimF  Read Replies (1) of 86356
 
Another possibility is fission fusion combination. The fusion isn't cost/energy effective, with today's technology it produces less usable energy than we put in to it, but it provides a source of energetic neutrons for the fission, which produces the energy. It allows for a passively safe set up. The fissionable material is deeply sub-critical, only fissioning because of the neurons from the fusion reaction. The fusion reaction is sustained from outside energy, such as laser pules targeted at fuel pellets, shut that off deliberately or because of a failure, and it shuts down.

Also you can use depleted/unenriched uranium (mostly U238), or many forms of nuclear waste as your fuel.

The downside is that its a more complex setup than straight fission.
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