I've been reading up lately on the current status of nuclear fusion research. Many of us have heard about ITER and related Tokamak designs for magnetic confinement fusion.
These projects are centered on the D + T reaction which produces He + a neutron with an energy of 17.6 MeV. The big problem with these projects is large engineering designs and they need to handle a huge flux of high energy neutrons. These neutrons tend to destroy stuff pretty fast. The nice thing is that they do not produce much in the way of long lived nuclear waste. There are other experimental approaches for fusion reactors that produce no high energy neutrons or long lived radioactive isotopes. This diary will be about the approach taken by Robert W. Bussard (of Bussard Ram Jet space engine fame)
More info on this approach after the flip
The current timeline for new Tokamak projects are:
SST-1 India, first plasma date unknown but this is a smaller Tokamak to test an approach at getting a steady state reaction going.
ITER, France, first plasma in 2018. This is 'The Big Project'
DEMO, unknown, construction begins in 2024, operational by 2033 or so. Funding and location unknown.
Bussard's approach is completely different. He wants to use a different nuclear fusion reaction. One that is a little harder to get going but does not produce excess neutrons or long lived radioactive isotopes.
These reactions are known as Aneutronic Fusion reactions. One such reaction, and the reaction that Bussard favors is the Boron + Proton reaction which gives up 3 Helium atoms and 8.7 MeV.
An experimental approach to this using this reaction for the basis of a nuclear fusion reactor that has caught my fancy is the approach offered by Robert W. Bussard (of Bussard Ram Jet space engine fame) who was working on this technology for the 24 years or so before his death in October 2007. He created a Polywell device using inertial electrostatic confinement to control and create a fusion reactor that can use the proton + boron reaction for energy production.
He has been working on this since 1983. In 1984 he formed EMC2 Fusion Development Corporation and worked for the next 23 years to develop this technology, mostly in secret since his company/R&D organization was largely funded by DARPA/Navy/DOE etc. with a lot of restrictions on publication. His funding has collapsed several times but he managed to secure some on going funding before his death and assembled a competent team of a few physicists and engineers to continue the work after his passing.
Perhaps realizing his mortality and with a need for additional funding at the time, he gave a Google Tech talk where over the course of 1.5 hours he fully explained the concepts, designs, results, ongoing challenges and his vision for the future of the project. This talk is really long, but endlessly fascinating and at times funny.
As I understand it, his team has demonstrated fusion with their latest device and want to build the next one. The next one will be of the scale required to actually produce the Boron + proton reaction on a scale of an electrical power plant. They are waiting to hear from Steven Chu about funding.
IMO, we cannot ignore promising technology like this any longer. This project is dirt cheap compared with ITER, has timelines that are short (with appropriate funding) and have the potential to solve the depression, Global Warming, prevent oil wars etc. if successful.
This research needs to be supported.
Also note there are many other approaches to achieving these neutron-less and long lived isotope-free reactions ongoing and I think they all need more funding.