Researchers have demonstrated, for the first time in a fusion reactor, a type of fuel that is plentiful and doesn’t produce damaging particles.
Researchers in Japan have demonstrated reactions, for the first time in a fusion reactor, with a type of fuel that is plentiful and doesn’t produce damaging particles. Although the reactions were nowhere close to achieving net energy and required even higher temperatures than standard fusion fuel, the result is a proof of principle for private fusion startup TAE Technologies, which argues that its path to a practical power plant faces fewer engineering roadblocks than conventional approaches.
Fusion is often promoted as a carbon-free energy source that has a plentiful and cheap fuel—a mix of the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium . In reality, tritium is rare and must be “bred” from lithium in the reactor itself; some scientists are concerned about. Moreover, when fused at high temperatures, D-T fuel produces copious high-energy neutrons, which are damaging to humans and reactor structures alike.
Computer simulations from the team suggested this translated into about 5 trillion fusion reactions per second. Although this may sound like a lot, Whyte says it equates to about 7 watts of power, one-tenth of what a candle flame produces. Moreover, Whyte says, most of those reactions were caused by the particle beams. In many fusion reactors, particle beams are used to get the overall plasma temperature hot enough to fuse more widely.
A reactor running on protons and boron would remove many of the challenges engineers face as they try to move fusion from scientific demonstration to practical electricity generator. The U.S. National Ignition Facility made headlines last year after demonstrating “gain”: a fusion reaction sparked by powerful lasers that produced more heat than the lasers pumped in. That explosive form of fusion reactor, however.
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