Kurchatov Institute: Hybrid power plant

2020: Completion of the design of the "green" power plant

Specialists of the Research Center "Kurchatov Institute," working on the creation of a hybrid power plant, have completely completed the stage of its preliminary design. This became known on December 9, 2020. This is an important step towards the introduction of one of the most promising energy technologies of the future. Within the framework of the project, specialists have solved many tasks - from justifying the physical principles of the operation of the plant to ensuring the safety of its operation.

The exhaustion of fossil natural resources and environmental problems necessitate the creation of additional sources of energy supply. In this regard, hybrid technology is one of the promising strategies, since it allows you to close the fuel cycle of nuclear power and improve its environmental indicators, "explained Boris Kuteev, deputy head of the tokamak department for hybrid systems of the Kurchatov complex of thermonuclear power and plasma technologies.

According to the scientist, such installations fit into the existing infrastructure and nuclear power system of our country.

They can be used to recycle long-lived waste from nuclear power plants. For example, one industrial hybrid plant with a capacity of 1 GW (e) is enough to process highly active nuclides accumulated in Russia, provide fuel for two thermal neutron power plants, or start a fast neutron power plant.

During the work on the hybrid project, scientists have gone from justifying the physical principles of the installation, writing program codes, working out individual elements of the architecture to integrating them into a single system and solving security issues. Significant progress has been made in optimizing the structural and functional materials of fusion reactors and hybrid systems. In addition, approaches have been proposed for additional plasma heating by neutron beams and fuel cycle architecture has been developed.

Feeding plasma with thermonuclear fuel - heavy isotopes of hydrogen (deuterium and tritium), removal of thermonuclear reaction products (helium) and, most importantly, the possibility of repeated use of the fuel mixture in the fuel cycle provides conditions for the continuous operation of the thermonuclear reactor and the hybrid system, - explained the leading researcher at the Kurchatov Institute Research Center Sergei Ananyev.

According to him, the thermonuclear neutron source DEMO-TIN will be the first hybrid installation to demonstrate basic technologies and their integration in a single energy complex.

At this stage, the researchers have formed requirements for experimental equipment and are ready to start creating a prototype for the development of a promising hybrid technology at the level of thermal power up to 500 MW.

The work was attended by specialists from the Kurchatov Institute Research Center and other specialized organizations - NIIEFA JSC, NIKIET JSC and SPbPU^[1].

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