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Helion seems to be the only Fusion startup that is confident of net energy gain at a system level within the next few years. If they can pull of Fusion Reaction

Helion seems to be the only Fusion startup that is confident of net energy gain at a system level within the next few years. If they can pull of Fusion Reaction direct to Electricity ie eliminating steam generator stage would be a game changer - but seems too good to be true. Sam Altman believes in it, he put in $375M of his own money.

born-jre 4y ago
Yeah me too, to layman that looked really promising, but then I watch this[0] video, and now I do not know what to belive. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vUPhsFoniw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vUPhsFoniw
- sendfoods 4y ago
  This is great, thank you. Real Engineering's video was amazingly well done, I just wondered where the potential pitfalls could be.
  - DennisP 4y ago
    I can respond to some of those points. FRCs have been around a long time but Helion isn't just making an FRC, they're making two, slamming them into each other, and then compressing with a magnetic field. The neutrons from D-D fusion are much lower energy than D-T fusion, and don't cause the same damage to materials. They're similar to fission neutrons, and modern fission reactors last sixty years without refurbishment. According to Helion and other sources I've seen, their hybrid reaction would only release 6% of its energy as neutron radiation, compared to 80% from D-T. They could also build reactors dedicated to D-D and hence He3 production, designing their power plants to mostly burn D-He3. That would reduce neutron radiation to less than 1% of power output. Regarding net power and scaling, I'm not competent to talk about it but here's the CEO of Helion going into some detail on their view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1vyMcqiVtA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1vyMcqiVtA
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
gene-h 4y ago
Helion has claimed that fusion is 5 years away since 2014: https://engage.aps.org/fps/resources/newsletters/newsletter-archives/april-2019 https://engage.aps.org/fps/resources/newsletters/newsletter-...
- DennisP 4y ago
  That's inevitably conditioned on funding, which Helion didn't get as soon as they hoped. Now they have plenty.

born-jre 4y ago

Yeah me too, to layman that looked really promising, but then I watch this[0] video, and now I do not know what to belive. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vUPhsFoniw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vUPhsFoniw

sendfoods 4y ago
This is great, thank you. Real Engineering's video was amazingly well done, I just wondered where the potential pitfalls could be.
- DennisP 4y ago
  I can respond to some of those points. FRCs have been around a long time but Helion isn't just making an FRC, they're making two, slamming them into each other, and then compressing with a magnetic field. The neutrons from D-D fusion are much lower energy than D-T fusion, and don't cause the same damage to materials. They're similar to fission neutrons, and modern fission reactors last sixty years without refurbishment. According to Helion and other sources I've seen, their hybrid reaction would only release 6% of its energy as neutron radiation, compared to 80% from D-T. They could also build reactors dedicated to D-D and hence He3 production, designing their power plants to mostly burn D-He3. That would reduce neutron radiation to less than 1% of power output. Regarding net power and scaling, I'm not competent to talk about it but here's the CEO of Helion going into some detail on their view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1vyMcqiVtA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1vyMcqiVtA
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

gene-h 4y ago

Helion has claimed that fusion is 5 years away since 2014: https://engage.aps.org/fps/resources/newsletters/newsletter-archives/april-2019 https://engage.aps.org/fps/resources/newsletters/newsletter-...

DennisP 4y ago
That's inevitably conditioned on funding, which Helion didn't get as soon as they hoped. Now they have plenty.