Electronuclear Systems – a New Generation of Nuclear Power Systems

The possibility of using electronuclear systems as a new generation of safe nuclear power systems is examined. Since the reliability of the linear accelerator is a basic safety element of an electronuclear system, novel methods for increasing accelerator reliability, which were developed at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, are proposed.The special features of electronuclear systems as compared with conventional critical reactors are demonstrated by comparing the characteristics of the TVR research reactor at the Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics to those of an electronuclear neutron generator based on the TVR and the ISTRA-36 linear proton accelerator. It is shown that the generator is much safer than the TVR reactor.