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Private money is coming in now: http://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-newly-formed-company-launch-novel-approach-fusion-power-0309 http://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-newly-fo

Private money is coming in now: http://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-newly-formed-company-launch-novel-approach-fusion-power-0309 http://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-newly-formed-company-launch-nov... https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/compact-fusion.html https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/compact-fusion...

DennisP 8y ago
Also Helion, TAE (formerly Tri Alpha), First Light Fusion, Tokamak Energy, General Fusion, and others. TAE is the biggest, with over $500M invested so far.
- pfdietz 8y ago
  I have to shake my head at TAE, since their approach was brutally critiqued 20 years ago. It turns out being given $500M doesn't let you evade the laws of physics. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235032059_Comments_on_the_Colliding_Beam_Fusion_Reactor_Proposed_by_Rostoker_Binderbauer_and_Monkhorst_for_Use_with_the_p-11B_Fusion_Reaction https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235032059_Comments_...
  - DennisP 8y ago
    I'm not a fusion scientist so I can't really judge, but in general I'm not sure it makes sense to say "it turns out" unless you know that experiments have proven it correct. From some quick googling it appears that TAE people responded to the critique and other people thought they made some valid points; see page 4 in this paper: http://w3fusion.ph.utexas.edu/ifs/ifsreports/919_wong.pdf http://w3fusion.ph.utexas.edu/ifs/ifsreports/919_wong.pdf Things seem to be going pretty well for TAE, at least as far as plasma confinement goes. Whether they can get net power from boron is another question, of course. I definitely see them as a dark horse compared to the tokamak companies.
    - pfdietz 8y ago
      TAE has recently begun pivoting, for example trying to use their technology for cancer treatment(!). Their name change was part of this. Generally a company doesn't do something like that unless they are forced to. TAE's response was not at all strong, IMO. And that was not the only critique. Plasma confinement is not the issue for TAE. The problem is even with perfect confinement, their non-Maxwellian scheme doesn't work.

DennisP 8y ago

Also Helion, TAE (formerly Tri Alpha), First Light Fusion, Tokamak Energy, General Fusion, and others. TAE is the biggest, with over $500M invested so far.

pfdietz 8y ago
I have to shake my head at TAE, since their approach was brutally critiqued 20 years ago. It turns out being given $500M doesn't let you evade the laws of physics. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235032059_Comments_on_the_Colliding_Beam_Fusion_Reactor_Proposed_by_Rostoker_Binderbauer_and_Monkhorst_for_Use_with_the_p-11B_Fusion_Reaction https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235032059_Comments_...
- DennisP 8y ago
  I'm not a fusion scientist so I can't really judge, but in general I'm not sure it makes sense to say "it turns out" unless you know that experiments have proven it correct. From some quick googling it appears that TAE people responded to the critique and other people thought they made some valid points; see page 4 in this paper: http://w3fusion.ph.utexas.edu/ifs/ifsreports/919_wong.pdf http://w3fusion.ph.utexas.edu/ifs/ifsreports/919_wong.pdf Things seem to be going pretty well for TAE, at least as far as plasma confinement goes. Whether they can get net power from boron is another question, of course. I definitely see them as a dark horse compared to the tokamak companies.
  - pfdietz 8y ago
    TAE has recently begun pivoting, for example trying to use their technology for cancer treatment(!). Their name change was part of this. Generally a company doesn't do something like that unless they are forced to. TAE's response was not at all strong, IMO. And that was not the only critique. Plasma confinement is not the issue for TAE. The problem is even with perfect confinement, their non-Maxwellian scheme doesn't work.