A two-step photon-intermediate technique for the production of electricity, chemicals or lasers in nuclear energy conversion

Abstract

The authors have developed an energy conversion concept, called Photon-Intermediate Direct Energy Conversion (PIDEC), that makes possible a two-step conversion of high grade nuclear energy (fission or fusion) to electricity or other useful high grade energy forms without intermediate thermalization. In PIDEC the nuclear fuel has a low average density, with local scale lengths significantly shorter than the range of the energetic nuclear reaction products. In the first step of the process, the nuclear energetic reaction product energy is transported to a fluorescer gas which converts it into photons. Then, in the second step of the process, the photons are transported out of the nuclear reactor to a medium which converts the photon energy to the desired product high grade energy form, such as electricity. We calculate that electricity can be produced, non-thermally, with an efficiency of up to 30%. With the addition of intermediate and bottoming thermal cycles, efficiency for electricity production could be as high as 70%, double that of conventional nuclear power plants. In addition to electric power, photolysis makes other product forms possible. These products include useful feedstock, or combustion chemicals, such as hydrogen and carbon monoxide, and excited molecular and atomic states, used for laser amplifiers or oscillators.