I've been thinking about this for some time now, and this site seemed the best place to ask about it:
Would it be possible to combine a non-breakeven fusion setup with Boron-10 fission to produce net power?
I was thinking initially of a Deuterium ion beam accelerated into the centre of a fusor containing Tritium plasma. The idea was to have a beam of neutrons fired at the Boron target, producing alpha particles and Lithium-7 nuclei which could subsequently be bombarded to breed more Tritium and create yet more alpha particles.
This doesn't really work as I'd expected though, because the D-T reaction produces neutrons in all directions and wouldn't be concentrated. However, wouldn't it be possible to surround the reaction centre with a boron shell? The fast neutrons would probably need moderation, perhaps simply with a water (or heavy water) bath, or maybe borohydride dissolved in solution. The latter would be preferable because it could feasibly be operated continuously.
I have also read that the D-D reaction, which would be simpler to do, has some component of direction maintained in its neutron emission, so that could help to reduce the complexity of the machine partly.
It may even be possible to use the neutrons to ignite Uranium more safely.
The main idea is to use fusion as a simple neutron source, which it has already found use for, to produce energy from a fissile material more common and processible than uranium. All of the benefits of fusion would be maintained, being inherently stable as the fission is not a chain reaction as in typical Uranium fission. The reactions also produce alpha particles which could be harnessed with much better efficiency than in typical nuclear reactors.
Like most of my ideas, I expect someone to already have thought of this - so what problems are there with the approach?
Question on coupling fusion and fission
Well, the general idea is called fusion-fission hybrid. I am not sure about boron-10, or the use of a beam on target approach. I think you really need around a Q of 1 to make it feasible, otherwise you just don't produce enough neutrons. And so it's a good idea if your fusion reactor *almost* works (like, within just 1 order of magnitude). Then it's possible to use fission to get over the hill. So if you can make a beam target reactor good enough certainly it should be workable with some fission fuel. Again though I don't know about boron-10.
Carter