By the way, this type of reactor is technically a hybrid fusion-fission reactor. Because when the neutron hits a Lithium-6, what happens is a fission reaction.

By the way, this type of reactor is technically a hybrid fusion-fission reactor. Because when the neutron hits a Lithium-6, what happens is a fission reaction. Lithium-6 absorbs the neutron, and then splits (in Tritium and Helium) and releases energy. We are taught that fission happens only for heavy nuclei, and this is mostly true, but Lithium-6 is an exception. The energy released in the fission of Lithium-6 is quite comparable to the energy releases in the fission of Uranium or Plutonium (4.8 MeV for the fission of one Li-6 nucleus vs about 200 MeV for Uranium-235 or Plutonium-239; that energy is nearly perfectly proportional to the atomic mass).