Hybrid Fission-Fusion Reactors

Here's a small piece in the NYT on the need for research into hybrid fission-fusion reactors, which could provide a safer alternative to conventional nuclear reactor designs.

Indians have narrowly been only looking at using plutonium as the neutron source to breed thorium into fissile uranium fuel. But the fact is that fusion reactors, even if they can't produce net power output, can similarly emit neutrons as plutonium does, in order to perform the same thorium breeding conversion.

So hybrid fission-fusion reactors could also be used by India to accelerate the pace of the thorium breeding phase of its indigenous nuclear power program. Even if the Nuclear Suppliers Group could cut off all Indian access to foreign fuel, nobody can prevent India from building tokamaks for thorium breeding, as neither are they dependent upon uraniam nor are they fission devices anyway.