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Helion tech seems to be interesting in that they use the electricity directly so avoids the costly conversion via steam/turbines etc.
by dools 4y ago
Helion tech seems to be interesting in that they use the electricity directly so avoids the costly conversion via steam/turbines etc.
- DennisP 4y agoAnd right now they're building their seventh reactor, for a net electricity attempt in 2024.
- moloch-hai 4y agoIt's the only one with a ghost of a chance. Still only a ghost, and the 3He supply problem looms.
- pfdietz 4y agoThey'd make their own 3He by also doing DD fusion. It's properly a DD+D3He concept.
- moloch-hai 4y agoI would like to see a demonstration that the synthesis method would exceed consumption. It should be possible with current tech, if at all.
- pfdietz 4y agoWell, they can operate on just DD, so they can start from no 3He and make 3He. This video of a presentation by Helion's Kirtley at Princeton has a slide where the reactivity vs. energy loss is shown for a DD system at beta=1. That system will make 3He directly, and also make tritium by two modes (directly from DD, and by capture of neutrons on 6Li in a blanket.) The net result would be production of 1.5 3He nuclei per DD fusion, on average. It takes a while for some of those 3He to be produced though, as the tritium has to decay (halflife of 12 years.) https://mediacentral.princeton.edu/media/JPP08December2022_DKirtley/1_9p8c7d85 https://mediacentral.princeton.edu/media/JPP08December2022_D...
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]