Making a nuclear fusion reaction device has been proven to be a difficult challenge for multiple wealthy countries, as seen in a very delayed ITER project. However, we believe that a private startup called Helion can begin to supply energy by 2028 by taking a different approach from other reactors.
Helion, which was established in 2013, is in the news thanks to the $ 425 million funding round supported by billionaire, such as Sam Altman and Peter Thiel. The company is currently rated $ 5.4 billion because of more than $ 1 billion.
Nuclear fusion, which forms a helium by combining hydrogen atoms, is the sacred grail of green energy. It does not contain carbon and does not produce long -term radioactive waste, unlike the current nuclear power plant. At the same time, the reactor can produce enough power to supply power to small cities.
However, the sustainable fusion reaction that generated more energy than it consumed did not occur. The largest project, an ITER (international thermo -nucleus test reaction device), is expected to cost up to $ 22 billion, and will not be online until at least 2034. The maximum fusion speed is 1,066 seconds (17 minutes 43 seconds), and has recently been set by the Chinese East Studor.
So how does Helion think that it can be successful? Most experimental reaction devices use magnetic or inertial confinements to compress plasma and heat sufficiently to cause fusion reactions. When this happens, the heat of the fusion generation supplies power to the steam turbine to generate electricity.
Helion uses another approach by distributing steam turbines. Inject fuel (heavy water and helium-3) into both ends of the hourglass-type reactor, heat to form plasma. The magnet forms a plasma in the form of a donut and fires up to up to 1 million miles. They collide with the narrow center of the reactor, further compressed by the magnet there. It heats them to 100 million degrees of magic and creates fusion.
“When plasma is enlarged, the magnetic field will be pushed back from the machine magnet,” Helion explains on the website. “Faraday’s law makes the field change the current. The electricity is directly recaptured as electricity so that the Helion’s fusion generator can skip the steam cycle.”
This system is simpler and more efficient than steam turbines. However, the company has achieved a sufficient speed to achieve the fusion, but has only been done on a small scale. “There are several large engineering issues to reach these high repetitions with a large pulse power that talks about millions of amplifiers,” said CEO David Killley.
And it is friction with all other reactors. The fusion created a significant increase in energy at once, and no one could control it so far. Helion believes that its simple system is useful, but has not yet proven that it can be done experimental, not to mention commercially. Nevertheless, the company says that Polaris, the seventh -generation reaction device, is currently “operating”, but has refused to share the results so far.
