
TAE says net power from fusion in two years, commercialization in five - DennisP
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2019/01/14/private-firm-will-bring-fusion-reactor-to-market-within-five-years-ceo-says/#5a0824fa1d4a
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DennisP
A couple years ago I was in a meeting that had someone from Tri Alpha. At that
point they'd proven plasma stability, and said they had one more hurdle, which
was to see if the plasma stayed stable as they ramped up the temperature.
Their model said it would but they hadn't tested it, and were only at 10M
degrees so far. They were building a new reactor that would would work at 100M
degrees.

He said if that worked out, they had no more unknowns, all they had to do
after that is increase the temperature more and that was easy, just add more
heating. There'd be no more barriers to commercialization.

I guess it worked out.

Their first net-power reactor will be D-T fusion. With the boron fusion
they're ultimately shooting for, there's an insignificant amount of neutron
radiation, and they won't need a turbine to extract energy, which will be
mostly in the form of fast-moving charged particles. That would make it a very
cheap and practical reactor.

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gandalfian
I really hope it turns out to be true and not hyperbole inspired by more
prosaic motives. It would be something if the world's energy problems were
solved not by the billions invested by the establishment but instead by the
investment of a soap opera star!

Mind you based on their claimed timetable shouldn't Lockheed be producing a
working prototype about now?

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DennisP
Yes, but when Lockheed made that claim they were just getting started with
fusion, and their experiment used about as much energy as a light bulb. They
revealed very little about their design.

TAE has the largest fusion reactor in the U.S. They've been at this for 20
years, present at fusion conferences, and get papers published in serious
journals. They achieved stable plasma several years ago.

The actor was one of their earliest investors, but others have included Paul
Allen, Goldman Sachs, and the Rockefellers, totaling $700 million so far.

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bediger4000
Isn't it traditional for fusion energy to be 10 years out?

Why did Forbes break with tradition?

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gandalfian
Well in only a week they have already corrected the artical to add a year or
two so we are catching up fast...

