Helion Fusion CEO, David Kirtley, presented an update on the work as of December, 2022.
They are working on their seventh-generation prototype system and they have had over 10,000 shots with the sixth-generation system. They create and form plasmas and accelerate two plasmas to merge at supersonic speeds. They do not inject beams and operate in pulse mode. they do not hold the plasma for long times like the tokamak approaches.
The VC-funded seventh prototype should generate electricity. They have $500 million in funding and commitments of another $2 billion if the seventh prototype achieves its technical goals.
6th system is working at about 10 kEV (10 thousand electron volts). Over 10,000 shots.
7th system will work at 20 kEV. Want to have it operating by the end of 2023.
8th or 9th systems to get to the ideal operating levels of 100 kEV.
It is taking about 2-4 years to make and start operating each new prototype.
They have computational models of their science work and computationally modeled the scaling of the system.
Nextbigfuture has monitored all nuclear fusion programs and advanced nuclear fission systems. Helion Fusion is one of the programs that is the most promising based upon my comprehensive analysis.
The Operation of Helion Fusion Summarized
Scaling and Science Foundation
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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