Solid State Interceptor

This idea is not new, but I guess this is the time to share it. I have applied for 4 patents regarding the design details of this interceptor. It relies on a pressure-fed rocket architecture; instead of turbopumps, the pressure of the fuel tanks pushes the fuel to the rocket engine. The interceptor utilizes my trademark unified engine block, Tesla Valves, regenerative cooling canals, and a low-pressure combustion chamber with a slit exit nozzle.

This engine design allows even low-pressure tanks to run the rocket. The propellants (LNG and LOX) regeneratively heat up, and the Tesla Valve ensures the pressure of the gasified fuel is higher than the pressure of the liquid propellant. As with my other designs, the engine is optimized for maximum air augmentation. The Tesla Valve ensures pulsed exhaust, and the lack of a traditional nozzle allows for a slightly more divergent exhaust gas. Both are ideal for optimal air mixture. By maximizing the air augmentation and afterburner effect, the rocket carries less LOX on board and, with the same fuel, attains higher speeds and longer ranges. Air augmentation and ambient oxygen increase the Iₛₚ of the rocket, similar to high-bypass turbofan engines, though in a much more compact, light, and agile engine.

In order to maximize the air augmentation, the interceptor has a void on its nose. This air intake increases towards the back of the rocket, lowering its pressure where the intake air meets the engine exhaust gas. The interceptor's aft is curved to allow more air to flow due to the Coandă effect, further increasing the augmented air.

To reduce the weight of the rocket—which requires stronger fuel tanks due to internal pressure—I opted for a Gradient Hexagonal Design. This increases strength with minimal weight penalty. The smaller hexagonal structures on the outer skin double as coolant reservoirs (for high Mach numbers) and shrapnel shields. The propellant is distributed among independent hexagonal structures traversing from the nose to the aft. As a result, any puncture leads only to a small fuel loss. Additionally, these hexagonal tanks have Tesla-valve-like vertical structures in them. These valves reduce liquid fuel sloshing, prevent liquid from flowing to the nose instead of the aft, and increase structural strength due to their perpendicular position compared to the horizontal hexagonal tanks. As a result, the interceptor can perform much higher G-maneuvers without breaking.

The major difference of my interceptor from others is its shape. It has a hexagonal structure instead of a tubular one. This geometry provides the interceptor with passive stability, negating the need for fragile fins and external stabilizers. More importantly, this design acts like a wing and increases lift. Therefore, the interceptor spends less fuel to counteract gravity, which increases its range even further.

One final and important design feature is its nose. The nose is not a monolithic structure like the rest of the interceptor; it is made of six trapezoidal mini-interceptors. When the target is close, these mini-interceptors fire their engines and split away from the main body. As a result, a single interceptor can hit 6 + 1 = 7 targets. This is a very important feature when intercepting cheap drones or missiles, as it significantly reduces the cost of intercepting a target. The trapezoidal design of the mini-interceptors allows for passive stabilization and lift, just like the main body. Their curved aft sections also allow them to utilize air augmentation.

Finally, the monolithic structure with a smooth surface (no protrusions) allows for compact piling of the interceptors, negating the need for racks and maximizing transport efficiency.

Uranium Harvester

In my previous posts, I detailed the 100 kV Fusion-Fission Igniter and the Vascular Core designed for a 100 MW output. While power generation is the primary function, the 10 cm Thorium Mantle provides a secondary industrial stream: the production of medical and industrial-grade Uranium-233.

The Breeding Strategy

Unlike traditional reactors that mix fuel and breeding material, my design utilizes Geometric Isotopic Separation.

The Central Axis: Th 232 inside the igniter tube undergoes Fast Fission to kickstart the core. Purity here is sacrificed for flux.

The Outer Mantle: Thorium-Aluminum tubes are placed 30 cm away from the axis. By the time neutrons reach this zone, they have been moderated by the Beryllium buffer and water forest, ensuring they are in the thermal range (< 1 eV).

This thermal flux is ideal for the capture reaction:

The Harvesting Protocol: A Three-Stage Process

To ensure 90+% purity, the reactor is shut down periodically to harvest the mantle. The harvested tubes contain a mixture of the Aluminum matrix, unreacted Thorium, and the newly bred Protactinium-233 (Pa 233) and Uranium-233 (U 233).

Step 1: The Aging Phase

The mantle sections are moved to an isolated, shielded cooling tank for 270 days. This allows the short-lived Th 233 (half-life 22 mins) to vanish and 99.9 % of the Pa 233 (half-life 27 days) to decay into target U 233.

Step 2: Aluminum Matrix Dissolution (The Caustic Wash)

Instead of complex mechanical chopping, we use the chemical properties of the Aluminum-Thorium alloy. The tubes are submerged in Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH).

Reaction:

The Aluminum dissolves into a soluble salt, leaving behind the Thorium and Uranium as a solid, heavy metal oxide sludge. This simplifies the process and reduces the volume of radioactive waste significantly.

Step 3: Chemical Separation (The THOREX Method)

The remaining sludge is processed to separate U 233 from the Th 232.

1. Nitric Acid Dissolution: The solids are dissolved in concentrated Nitric Acid (HNO₃) with a trace of fluoride catalyst.

2. Solvent Extraction: The liquid nitrate solution is mixed with Tributyl Phosphate (TBP) in an organic solvent.

The TBP selectively binds to the Uranyl ions, pulling the U 233 into the organic layer.

The Thorium remains in the aqueous (water) layer and is recycled to manufacture new fuel tubes.

3. Stripping: The Uranium is stripped from the TBP using dilute acid and precipitated as a high-purity oxide.

Conclusion: Isotopic Sovereignty

By utilizing the Vascular Design, we bypass the need for massive enrichment facilities. The reactor does the enrichment via neutron capture, and the chemistry remains simple due to the Aluminum-based fuel geometry.

This allows an offshore plant to produce:32 MW of continuous electricity.

Kilograms of U 233 for advanced molten salt reactors or cancer-fighting alpha therapies.

The Hybrid Reactor is more than a power plant—it is the first self-contained nuclear refinery.

Breeding Nuclear Reactor with Hybrid Fuel

In my previous article, I detailed the “Self-Sensing Fusion-Fission Igniter”. Today, I am redesigning the entire reactor core to utilize this 100 kV axis as its primary driver. By replacing wire-based fuel with Tubular Fuel Cells, we create a high-surface-area forest that optimizes both neutron economy and passive heat dissipation.

The Core Architecture

The reactor is built in concentric functional zones, designed to maximize the multiplication of neutrons from the central axis.

The Axis: The 100 kV Igniter is centered, with 12V power and ground cables (and optical fiber) fed through the bottom via reinforced conduits.

The Fission Forest (30 cm Radius): This zone is packed with 800-micron outer diameter / 300-micron inner diameter Tubular Fuel Cells. The Aluminum-Uranium (5% enriched) alloy here captures the moderated flux from the Igniter.

The Multiplication Buffer (1 cm Radius): This zone is packed with 800-micron outer diameter / 300-micron inner diameter Tubular Aluminum-Beryllium Cells. This ring immediately surrounds the forest to reflect neutrons back into the fuel, maintaining a high k-value.

The Breeding Mantle (10 cm Radius): This zone is packed with 800-micron outer diameter / 300-micron inner diameter Tubular Aluminum-Thorium Cells. This zone captures escaping neutrons, converting them to U 233 to ensure long-term fuel autonomy.

Thermal and Fluid Management

To handle high thermal energy, the reactor utilizes passive phase change instead of mechanical pumps.

Vascular Internal Flow: Every 300-micron capillary tube act as an independent pump. As the Igniter provides the thermal kick, the water inside the tubes flashes to steam (starting at 33°C in vacuum). This creates a powerful Capillary Siphon, pulling cold water from the bottom and ejecting steam through the top.

The PTFE Duct System: The core is housed in a duct with PTFE-only walls. PTFE (Teflon) is used for its extreme chemical inertness and low friction, ensuring the steam-water mixture moves at high velocity without turbulence or sticking.

Graphite & Insulation: External Graphite panels serve as both a neutron moderator and a thermal ballast, while an outer insulator layer prevents heat loss into the surrounding environment, forcing the energy through the turbine loop.

Proving the High k-Value and Self-Cleaning Physics

5x Flux Multiplier: The 100 kV Igniter provides a dense starter flux that traditional reactors lack.

Surface Area: The 800-micron tubular design provides thousands of square meters of surface area in a tiny volume, ensuring almost every neutron interacts with a fuel atom.

Geometry: The 10 cm Thorium mantle acts as a neutron trap, ensuring that leakage is actually an asset that breeds new fuel.

No neutron killers: Fission byproducts are removed from the reactor core as they are produced. The gases like Xe and Kr are released from the fuel tubes are collected in the condenser section. The solid byproducts drop to the bottom of the reactor due to open nature of the design.

Structural Integrity & Communication

The base of the core is the Control Hub. Here, the 12V and Ground cables are attached directly to the Igniter's base. The optical communication window sits at the bottom of the duct, allowing the internal SiC-Ge sensors to beam real-time data through the glass and into the control system, keeping the electronics safe from the primary steam path.

Conclusion: Why the Hybrid Architecture is Superior

The transition from traditional solid-rod reactors to the Hybrid Design solves the three "impossible" problems of nuclear engineering: safety, waste, and longevity.

1. Immunity to Meltdown

Traditional reactors fight gravity and heat. This design uses them. The Vapor Siphon is a law of physics, not a mechanical system. If the reactor gets hotter, the siphon pulls faster. There are no pumps to fail, and the vacuum-start at 33°C ensures the system is active long before reaching critical temperatures.

2. The End of Fuel Poisoning

The Open Core philosophy is the design’s greatest advantage. By allowing gaseous and solid fission byproducts to leave the core immediately, we eliminate Xenon-poisoning. While other reactors must be shut down to clean the fuel, this reactor stays at a high k-value for decades, maximizing the energy extracted from every gram of Uranium and Thorium.

3. Integrated Intelligence

With the Self-Sensing Igniter at its axis, the reactor is no longer a black box. The SiC-Ge sensors provide a high-fidelity data stream from the most intense part of the flux. This allows for precise, electronic control of power output for nuclear fission making it the first reactor perfectly suited for the variable demands of modern offshore and industrial grids.

The result is a system that doesn't just generate power; it breeds it, cleans itself, and monitors its own health that ensures 100 MW of safe, passive energy for over 30 years.

Self-Sensing Fusion-Fission Igniter

In my previous articles, I proposed the use of AmBe as the neutron source. I would now like to propose an electronic version which provides a much higher neutron flux density. This setup initiates fission—similar to an auto-ignition system—in a much shorter timeframe than other methods.

The setup utilizes a 100 kV neutron generator at its core. The tube features a bottom section that receives a 12V input, with the casing connected to a ground potential. This bottom section includes a glass window for two-way optical communication. Inside the tube, a dedicated electronics suite controls the neutron generator and monitors core fission. To ensure radiation durability, these electronics are fabricated from SiC (Silicon Carbide) with Germanium (Ge) additives. This section is housed in a container filled with low-pressure Xenon (Xe) gas. The Xenon acts as an internal sensor; it absorbs neutrons, and the resulting reaction is measured to determine real-time neutron levels. Above the electronics is a thick EMF insulation section, followed by a high-voltage generator that steps 12V up to 100 kV. Since the 100 kV output is pulsed at only a few milliamps, a 12V supply is sufficient. This power section is also filled with low-pressure Xe for neutron protection.

Unlike traditional metallic-cased designs, this tube utilizes an Aluminum Oxide insulator layer to seal the vacuum. The exterior of this oxide layer is coated with a 2–3 mm thick Thorium (Th) layer. To ensure superior thermal conductivity and adhesion to the Aluminum Oxide, the Thorium is alloyed with Aluminum. The Thorium layer is then encased in a 5–10 mm thick, porous Aluminum-Beryllium (Al-Be) alloy. The porous structure is a critical safety feature, allowing the Helium (He) gas generated by the Beryllium reactions to escape easily without compromising structural integrity. This configuration achieves a neutron multiplication factor of approximately 5.

Operational Physics

The central generator produces ultra-high-energy neutrons (14.1 MeV). The process follows a specific cascade logic:

Fast Fission: The 14.1 MeV neutrons possess sufficient energy to trigger fast fission in the Thorium-232 atoms. Each Thorium atom hit by a neutron fissions, yielding 2.5 to 3 fast neutrons.

Multiplication & Moderation: The outer Beryllium (Be) layer absorbs these secondary neutrons. Through the (n, 2n) reaction, it doubles the neutron count while simultaneously moderating their energy.

Core Ignition: This multiplier effect enhances the generator's performance by both increasing the total neutron count and slowing them to the ideal thermal energy levels required for the Uranium-235 Forest to fission effectively.

By utilizing an electronically controlled high neutron flux, this design ensures the fission process achieves a high k value rapidly. This active control allows for precise management of the reactor's power, providing the thermal kick necessary to initiate the passive capillary siphon within the fuel forest. Because the flux is electronically driven, the reactor can be started and stopped on demand, offering a level of operational flexibility usually absent in traditional designs. A significant breakthrough of this tube is its built-in sensor suite. This marks the first time a nuclear reactor would feature live, integrated sensors at its very core during operation. The SiC-Ge electronics, optical communication and Xenon-gas monitoring chamber allow for immediate data feedback from the highest-flux zone of the system. This generator tube was developed to perfectly integrate with my open-core, closed-cycle, passively cooled, low-pressure water reactor. The synergy between the 100 kV trigger and the vascular fuel forest creates a self-regulating system that is both high-output and inherently safe. I will explain the updated design of the full reactor assembly in my next article.

Achieving High Efficiency in Pumpless Nuclear Reactors

Traditional passive nuclear reactors often suffer from low thermodynamic efficiency (frequently capped at 20%) due to the difficulty of maintaining a deep vacuum at the turbine exit without active pumping. I propose a novel "Condenser-within-Condenser" architecture using a 20-bar Refrigerant Coupler and Al-Mg-PEO-CNT vascular fins. By leveraging phase-change kinetics, this design achieves high-power heat rejection while maintaining a compact, modular footprint.

In a pump-less system, the cooling rate is usually limited by the speed of natural convection. If the steam exiting the turbine at 5 bar (~152°C) is not collapsed instantly, back-pressure builds, and turbine efficiency plummets. To overcome this, the heat must be sucked out of the steam using a steep temperature gradient and massive surface area. The solution I propose cools the steam directly with seawater, the reactor utilizes an intermediate Refrigerant Coupler Loop.

Primary Loop: 5-bar Steam exiting the turbine at ~152°C.

Secondary Loop (The Coupler): Industrial refrigerant (e.g., R-1233zd) pressurized to 20 bar.

Boiling Point in Coupler: ~125°C–130°C.

A constant 22°C–27°C Thermal Vacuum that causes the 5-bar steam to collapse aggressively and increases the electric generation efficiency of the reactor over 32%.

To handle 300 MW of thermal energy without a massive structure, the condenser is designed as a 4.2-meter Al-Mg Hemisphere packed with fractal, hollow fins. Al-Mg Alloy provides the structural backbone and high thermal conductivity. PEO (Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation) coating prevents corrosion from the high-pressure refrigerant and steam. CNT (Carbon Nanotube) Forest on the exterior of the fins that promotes dropwise condensation. This allows for heat transfer rates 5–10x higher than conventional smooth-wall condensers. As the refrigerant boils inside the fins, the gas-lift effect creates a powerful, passive thermal siphon that races toward the external hull at velocities up to 8 m/s. This makes the system more responsive to heat spikes than traditional pump-driven systems.

Size and Cost Estimates

For a 100 MWe (300 MWt) plant, the system remains remarkably compact:

Condenser Module Size: ~4.2m Diameter (Hemisphere).

Total Liquid Inventory: ~5,000L Distilled Water + ~4,000L Refrigerant.

Refrigerant Cost: ~$75,000 to $120,000 (a negligible fraction of CAPEX).

Service Life: Optimized for a 2–5 year High Power cycle before modular replacement.

By replacing mechanical pumps with high-pressure phase-change kinetics, this design achieves the holy grail of nuclear engineering: a high-efficiency, high-power reactor that is entirely passive. The use of high pressure of the fluid to drive its own cooling—ensures that the system is not only safer than the norm but more responsive to the dynamic needs of heavy industrial work.

Passive Gas Brake for Submerged Reactors

In my previous post, I detailed the submerged passive steam reactor core a 142 cm Copper monolith using a brush of 800μm fuel wires. I would like to address the two most critical challenges for a 15-year submerged cycle: Emergency Shutdown (Scram) and Structural Survival in a high-pressure steam environment.

The Marine-Grade Solution (Al-Mg 5000 Series)

In order to apply my emergency shutdown idea I needed to expose my fuel wires to the steam and water. Pure Aluminum would be corroded in such harsh environment. Instead, I decided to use Marine-Grade Aluminum-Magnesium (Al-Mg) in the fuel matrix. Al-Mg is very ductile. It can accommodate the microscopic swelling caused by 15 years of Be to He transmutation without cracking. In 156°C water, Al-Mg forms a stable, thin oxide layer. By adding a small corrosion allowance to the wire diameter, the core maintains its integrity for its entire 15-year lifespan. Al-Mg remains nearly invisible to neutrons, allowing us to maintain a high-efficiency 5% LEU (Low Enriched Uranium) fuel cycle.

The Fluidic Scram: No Moving Parts

Classical reactors rely on mechanical control rods that can jam or thump into the core. In the STB-PSP, I opted for Fluidic Control. Because my design vents fission gases (Xe and Kr) from the top of the wires, we can collect, pressurize, and store them in a small tank at the base of the reactor. This tank utilizes a Gravity-Piston logic. Helium (light) stays at the top of the tank, providing the pressure. Xenon (heavy) stays at the bottom, ready to be deployed. In an emergency, a fail-safe valve opens at the base of the fuel sections (Zone 1 and Zone 3). The pressurized Helium pushes the Xenon into the wire bundles.

How the Nuclear Gas Brake Works

The Xenon gas enters through a support mesh at the bottom of the fuel zones. The physics of the shutdown is two-fold: 

Moderator Displacement: The gas pushes the liquid water (the moderator) out of the wire gaps. Without water to slow the neutrons, the chain reaction stalls.

Neutron Absorption: Xenon-135 is the most powerful neutron poison known. Even in trace amounts, it swallows the neutrons, dropping the reactivity below 1 in milliseconds.

Self-Regulating Equilibrium

During normal operation, the 148 kg/s of rising steam acts as a continuous vacuum, flushing out trace Xenon before it can poison the reaction. The design leverages a Negative Void Coefficient: as the core heats, the increased steam volume reduces neutron moderation while allowing trace Xenon to act as a natural stabilizer. Conversely, if the core cools, the liquid water density increases moderation, naturally pulling the reactor back up to its design power. The Fluidic Scram system simply amplifies this natural stability by flooding the core with concentrated Xenon during an emergency, providing a hard stop that requires no moving parts and no external power.

Revised Nuclear Core Design

I should confess that my initial Thorium-only reactor proposal was an inaccurate path, partly misled by standard AI assumptions. For over a month, I have used AI to verify my ideas, a process that was previously slow and ineffective via standard web searching. However, complex, out-of-the-box engineering is often impossible to verify using public-facing AI, which tends to form a wall of established knowledge when you try to proceed toward extremes. Throughout my idea development process, my lack of knowledge allowed me to develop out of the box ideas. After, every idea proposal and later finding out that it wouldn't work, I learned new things. However, I kept developing new ones based on the new knowledge I gained. I believe learning by failing is a very powerful way of learning compared to textbook style memorizing the knowledge to get a degree.

What I believe about science is that as you go to extremes, there are more opportunities waiting for you. Even though there are verified laws of physics, they are not the ultimate laws. The laws we take for granted are developed by humans after observations and calculations. As a result, there are so many gaps in human made laws when we go to extremes. They pop up as exceptions initially and a law is defined to explain them later.

If I come back to my Thorium only reactor core proposal, it would not work as is. It would require so much support material to work that it would be nowhere economical. It is best to use established reactor grade Uranium in the core (5% enriched). Though it is possible to add some Thorium to the mix to extend the lifetime of the fuel.

Unlike classical reactors that use thick ceramic Uranium disks (poor thermal conductors that trap fission gases), my final design utilizes wire-formed fuel rods stacked in a high-conductivity Copper structure like the bristles of a brush. My design focuses on standalone nuclear fuel packs. In classical nuclear cores, there are so many fuel rods and neutron moderators in between to facilitate fission. My proposed design merges them into a confined structure. I use Beryllium as the moderator and neutron multiplier. 5% enriched Uranium as the main source of fuel and Aluminum as the binder.

These materials would be pulled to form wires. The thickness of the wires would be between 100-500 microns. Aluminum in the mix would allow them to form a wire. Aluminum is almost transparent to neutron which is a good thing to maintain high neutron flux. Beryllium in the mix would be catching the high energy neutrons and yield two slower neutrons for the Uranium to catch them. This neutron multiplication would allow a self sustained fission with lower critical mass (minimum amount of Uranium needed to establish a self sustaining fission reaction).

Stacking micro fuel rods (wired fuels) inside the cavities of the copper structure forms compact cores. As a result, it has very high heat conductivity thanks to Aluminum. This allows compact formation of tiny fuel rods. Increasing the neutron density and capture rate. The voids between the thin wires form escape path for the gasses which are usually neutron absorbers that kill the fission. As a result, as the fission progress there would be less neutron absorbers inside the core further improving the efficiency of the system.

The Metallurgy of Efficiency

Aluminum (The Matrix): Acts as the binder and a thermal super-highway, allowing for a compact core without the risk of a meltdown. It is nearly transparent to neutrons, maintaining a high flux.

Beryllium (The Multiplier): Acts as both a moderator and a neutron multiplier, yielding two slower neutrons for every high-energy neutron caught, significantly lowering the required critical mass.

Gaseous Venting: The voids between these micro-wires provide a natural escape path for fission byproduct gases (xenon/krypton). By removing these neutron poisons in real-time, the system's efficiency actually improves as the cycle progresses.

Core Architecture

In order to increase steam production efficiency and improve fission probability, I thought of a copper structure like this:

Zone 1: The Central Igniter (Radius 0–9 cm) A vertical bundle of ≈ 140,000 wires (500 μm diameter) composed of U-Al-Be (5% LEU). This high-density core ensures immediate criticality and sparks the breeding cycle.

Zone 2: Inner Cooling Ring (9–16 cm) A 7 cm thick hexagonal Copper honeycomb designed for maximum water flow to cool the high-flux igniter. These honeycombs also improve the core's structural strength.

Zone 3: The Breeder Ring (16–33 cm) An annular bundle of ≈ 610,000 wires (500 μm diameter) composed of Th-Al with trace U-Al-Be. This 17 cm thick mantle captures escaping neutrons to breed U 233.

Zone 4: Outer Structural Jacket (33–60 cm) A 27 cm thick reinforced Copper honeycomb that provides the primary structural rigidity and the main steam exit path.

The height of the structure would be 142 cm to allow enough surface area for thermal contact and still maintain fission byproduct gasses to escape easily.

Submerged Passive Operation (100 MWₑ)

Operating at a depth of 20 meters, the system utilizes a 5-bar closed-loop cycle. The 20m depth provides a natural hydrostatic back-pressure, minimizing structural stress on the Al-Mg-PEO condenser.

Calculated Performance Values

1. Electrical and Thermal Balance

At the target 32% net efficiency (accounting for turbine, generator, and parasitic friction losses in the closed loop), the energy split is as follows:

Sustainable Electric Output (Pₑ): 100 MWₑ

Total Thermal Power (Pₜₕ): 312.5 MWₜₕ

Heat to be Removed (Qₒᵤₜ): 212.5 MWₜₕ

This means for every 100 MW electric power produced, the reactor dumps 212.5 Megajoules per second into the seawater through the passive condenser.

2. The Mass Flow Requirements

To move 312.5 MW of heat using 5 bar saturated steam (where the enthalpy of vaporization ΔHᵥₐₚ is approximately 2,108 kJ/kg):

Steam Mass Flow: ≈ 148 kg/s (or 533 metric tons per hour).

Circulation Logic: This entire mass must be condensed back to liquid in the seawater heat exchanger to maintain the pressure differential that drives the pump-less flow.

3. Seawater Cooling Demand

"Ocean Sink" parameters to handle 212.5 MWₜₕ:

Δ T (Seawater Rise): If we allow the cooling water passing over the condenser to rise by 10°C, the required seawater flow rate through the external structure will be approximately $5.1 m³/s (or 18,300 tons/hr).

Passive Intake: Since there are no pumps, this flow will be driven by natural ocean currents or the thermal plume (buoyancy) created by the heat itself.

4. Fuel Consumption (The "Deep Burn" Rate)

To maintain this 100 MWₑ output sustainably over 15 years:

Fissile Consumption: ≈ 130 grams of U 235 / U 233 per day.

Total 15-Year Burn: ≈ 710 kg of heavy metal.

Breeding Requirement: Since we are only starting with 38.75 kg of U 235 (within the 775 kg LEU), the reactor must breed the remaining 670+ kg of fuel from the Thorium-232 mantle during operation.