Some years ago came across this company called Helion Energy - some weeks ago went through the company's development and it felt something else. Perhaps the same feeling how the Manhattan Project team might have got.
Helion is one of about a dozen fusion startups that employ slightly unconventional fusion reactor designs. Their plan is to derive energy directly from the magnetic field rather than converting water to steam via thermal energy. For an in-depth understanding of Helion's fusion technology, I highly recommend watching the excellent video from Real Engineering. here
Super interesting approach and technology these guys are working on.
Helion's approach to fusion energy production is clear-cut: forget steam and discard the tokamak.
While not the only design to forgo steam energy capture, Helion uniquely leverages the immense energy of fusion to directly generate current. Another company similarly uses molten metal for direct harvesting.
Furthermore, Helion and other non-tokamak designs are arguably closer to success. Tokamaks, despite their theoretical soundness, are impractical due to issues like neutron degradation and excessive tritium consumption. For instance, a facility like ITER could exhaust the world's tritium supply within several months of operation.
Consider this:
We're likely to determine the viability of these alternative designs before large tokamak projects generate a single watt. These projects are flexible, accelerating our understanding of fusion at a pace the mega projects can't match. Even marginal success would be worthwhile—the commonality among these smaller teams is practical, feasible designs that could soon produce energy.
Helion, TAE, Zap, General Fusion, and others are all serious contenders in fusion research. From what I see - Fusion research—being heavily grounded in engineering and physics—allows no room for half-hearted attempts or mere dabbling. The challenge requires substantial financial and intellectual resources.
Helion stands out as an exception in the realm of steam turbines. This distinction arises from their utilisation of a highly advanced fuel source, which results in a unique phenomenon: a controlled release of charged particles, in contrast to the predominantly neutron radiation common in traditional reactors. These charged particles exert a force against a magnetic field, subsequently facilitating the generation of electrical current within the coils.
In the case of D-T (Deuterium-Tritium) reactors, which primarily rely on neutron reactions, the conventional steam turbine mechanism remains viable, provided they achieve the necessary energy gain. Nevertheless, it is important to note that this approach tends to be less efficient and potentially more costly when compared to Helion's innovative method.