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> They would produce their own 3He via DD. So solve the problem of fusion producing neutrons which wreck everything by producing neutrons which wreck everythin

> They would produce their own 3He via DD. So solve the problem of fusion producing neutrons which wreck everything by producing neutrons which wreck everything? > Explain how you know they are lying about energy recycling? They brag directly in their promotional videos about recovering the 'remaining' thermal energy in their plasma via a heat exchanger back into their magnets. The second you run your energy through a heat engine twice, you've lost. The entire concept can never be commercialized. That's even if you haven't built a multi billion dollar boondoggle that will fall apart in ten years due to neutron embrittlement.

pfdietz 4y ago
DD neutrons are much less damaging, as they produce far less helium by (n,alpha) reactions than DT neutrons. The D3He reaction produces no neutrons at all. The reactor is cylindrical rather than toroidal, and doesn't need to breed tritium, so one could imagine this neutron absorbing shielding being something that could easily be slid out and replaced, if needed. No, they are not recovering remaining thermal energy "by a heat exchanger". They are allowing the plasma to expand against a magnetic field, doing work, which is collected as electrical energy. I've been told they reported 95% efficiency at recovering the energy of compression by this means.
- Schroedingersat 4y ago
  After doing some reading I was definitely wrong about expanding and cooling implying thermalising. And they do seem to be doing real engineering around problems you'd only think about if you had something that worked. I'm still not convinced it's viable (largely because they are acting exactly like scammers for some reason -- perhaps peer pressure?), but I cannot find evidence of the same deal breakers as DT or fission.
  - pfdietz 4y ago
    I went through a similar process with them, thinking it didn't work for a reason, then finding out the "reason" was the product of my own misunderstanding.

pfdietz 4y ago

DD neutrons are much less damaging, as they produce far less helium by (n,alpha) reactions than DT neutrons. The D3He reaction produces no neutrons at all. The reactor is cylindrical rather than toroidal, and doesn't need to breed tritium, so one could imagine this neutron absorbing shielding being something that could easily be slid out and replaced, if needed. No, they are not recovering remaining thermal energy "by a heat exchanger". They are allowing the plasma to expand against a magnetic field, doing work, which is collected as electrical energy. I've been told they reported 95% efficiency at recovering the energy of compression by this means.

Schroedingersat 4y ago
After doing some reading I was definitely wrong about expanding and cooling implying thermalising. And they do seem to be doing real engineering around problems you'd only think about if you had something that worked. I'm still not convinced it's viable (largely because they are acting exactly like scammers for some reason -- perhaps peer pressure?), but I cannot find evidence of the same deal breakers as DT or fission.
- pfdietz 4y ago
  I went through a similar process with them, thinking it didn't work for a reason, then finding out the "reason" was the product of my own misunderstanding.