Fusion-Fission Hybrid Nuclear Reactors: For enhanced nuclear fuel utilization and radioactive waste reduction. Previous chapter · Next chapter.
# New nuclear fusion reactor design may be a breakthrough. # New nuclear fusion reactor design may be a breakthrough. ## Using permanent magnets may help to make nuclear fusion reactors simpler and more affordable. Using permanent magnets may help to make nuclear fusion reactors simpler and more affordable. In a new paper, Zarnstorff, a chief scientist at the Max Planck Princeton Research Center for Plasma Physics in New Jersey, and his colleagues describe a simpler design for a stellarator, one of the most promising types of nuclear fusion reactors. But new insights into the design of nuclear fusion reactors, like the one described in the new paper, could help to expedite the process of developing what could someday become the primary energy source of a post-carbon society. Two tall, rectangular scientific instruments, including a NASA nuclear reactor prototype, stand on the rocky lunar surface with Earth visible in the background against the blackness of space.
FUSION REACTOR DESIGNS: An Overview of Modern Approaches. Thousands of scientists are working restlessly to create fusion energy.
Illustrated cross section of a traditional doughnut-shaped tokamak fusion reactor. Tokamaks, such as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in France, use electromagnetic fields to confine plasma and heat it to the temperatures and densities necessary to ignite fusion. Illustrated cutaway of a traditional doughnut-shaped tokamak fusion reactor. Illustrated cutaway of a traditional doughnut-shaped tokamak fusion reactor. Illustrated cutaway of the tokamak fusion reactor with particles spinning around the central solenoid. Illustrated cutaway of the tokamak fusion reactor with plasma spinning around the central solenoid. *5* • As the temperature rises, the density and energy within the plasma increase, causing particles to collide and initiate fusion. Illustrated cutaway of the tokamak fusion reactor with plasma spinning around the central solenoid. Illustrated cross section of a tokamak fusion reactor with plasma circulating around the central solenoid. All tokamaks confine the plasma using a central electric current that can make fusion reactions difficult to maintain**.
# Compact Fusion Reactors: The Next Big Leap in Small-Scale Nuclear Power. Compact fusion nuclear reactors offer a compelling vision for the future of energy, merging fusion’s clean power potential with a dramatically reduced physical footprint. As of now, while still in development, compact fusion reactors are advancing through significant private investment and technological innovation. As of March 2025, compact fusion reactors remain pre-commercial, with no system yet producing net energy (output exceeding input). **Lockheed Martin – Compact Fusion Reactor (CFR):** Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works division is developing a CFR designed to fit on a truck, targeting 100 megawatts of power. **Avalanche Energy – Orbitron**: Avalanche Energy, a Seattle-based startup, is developing the Orbitron, a micro-fusion reactor small enough to fit on a desk, targeting 1-100 kilowatts per unit, scalable to megawatt ranges when stacked. Compact fusion nuclear reactors are not an immediate solution, but their development trajectory warrants proactive engagement. Hence it is clear that compact fusion nuclear reactors represent a high-risk, high-reward opportunity for businesses.
How three fusion reactor designs could power tomorrow ... Inertial confinement reactors, stellarators and tokamaks each have pros and cons.
Fusion used to follow one rule: build it bigger. Bigger tokamaks meant more plasma volume, longer confinement, and a better shot at
In tokamak fusion reactors, a plasma composed of electrons and hydrogen isotopes is heated and accelerated to temperatures as high as 100 million °C. To mitigate this risk, Lively proposes injecting into the reactor tungsten particles that can halt currents of runaway electrons in the plasma before any damage occurs. Inside the donut-shaped reactor, these giant magnets accelerate a current of electrons, charged particles, and hydrogen isotopes until they form a plasma. Initially, they follow the lines of the reactor’s internal magnetic fields, but during disruption events, those magnetic lines can shift, driving a beam of 100-million °C plasma into a small patch of the reactor’s tungsten wall. Lively’s shotgun would inject into the reactor a spray of millimeter-wide tungsten particles to intercept the runaway electrons. He represented particle trajectories, energy loss and deposition, and the secondary radiation that occurs when high-energy runaway electrons strike tungsten particles in a tokamak reactor.