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Radical hydrogen-boron reactor leapfrogs current nuclear fusion tech?

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Re: Radical hydrogen-boron reactor leapfrogs current nuclear fusion tech?

#131

Post by nnq »

DeusExMachina wrote: post #103

Can somebody with more understanding tell me if this idea I had is stupid or has some merit? Fusion will deliver an incredible amount of energy, making it cheap. Everybody then turns up their energy consumption since it costs nothing. Raise heating in houses, use AC everywhere, longer showers, more transportation, etc. All this energy eventually becomes heat. Can it get to a threshold where it can influence temperatu…

> energy [...] costs nothing. Raise heating in houses, use AC everywhere, longer showers, more transportation

Yey, can we get to this future faster?! Joking aside, all the current eco-friendly tech diminishes comfort by a loooot... we need low-energy habitats that are actually comfortable ffs.

For example, traveling around Europe, I see that the new trend in the developed/western part is to shiver you ass out during the cold months and to melt your brains out during the hot ones in almost all public spaces! Like we're back in the pre-AC era! You need to get to Eastern Europe's bigger cities to enjoy comfy heating/cooling habits like proper heating in the winter (yes, I want my >25 C in winter!) and proper cooling in the summer (After we invest so much of our lives in developing technology, we should at least enjoy the simple comforts and pleasures it freaking offers!

Re: Radical hydrogen-boron reactor leapfrogs current nuclear fusion tech?

#132

Post by DonHopkins »

willis936 wrote: post #69
FredrikMeyer wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they might be thinking of the corona of the sun > The temperature in the corona is more than a million degrees, surprisingly much hotter than the temperature at the Sun's surface which is around 5,500° C https://scied.ucar.edu/solar-corona

Fusion happens in the core of stars but is powered by gravity. “Temperature” in this case is individual particle speed (in eV) because the particle speed distribution is not necessarily Boltzman. Higher particle speeds are needed because our confinement fields are weaker than the force of gravity inside a star.

Most SF stories have artificial gravity generators, because it simplifies plots and lowers production costs. But is there actually a chance in hell that we'll ever have that kind of control over gravity?

Re: Radical hydrogen-boron reactor leapfrogs current nuclear fusion tech?

#133

Post by ncmncm »

kamesstory wrote: post #120
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #110

Why a pellet? Why not a gas of boron and hydrogen? Easier to feed continuously.

Probably had to do with density, if the target is cascading reactions by nuclei to nuclei contact. Solids have a higher chance of contact.

Better yet, a wire feed.

Re: Radical hydrogen-boron reactor leapfrogs current nuclear fusion tech?

#134

Post by willis936 »

DonHopkins wrote: post #132
willis936 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fusion happens in the core of stars but is powered by gravity. “Temperature” in this case is individual particle speed (in eV) because the particle speed distribution is not necessarily Boltzman. Higher particle speeds are needed because our confinement fields are weaker than the force of gravity inside a star.

Most SF stories have artificial gravity generators, because it simplifies plots and lowers production costs. But is there actually a chance in hell that we'll ever have that kind of control over gravity?

Probably not, but it does help with storytelling. You need things like exotic matter and time travel. Space magic seems to mostly be all the same thing: negative mass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10AP7tio408

Re: Radical hydrogen-boron reactor leapfrogs current nuclear fusion tech?

#135

Post by ncmncm »

deftnerd wrote: post #117
Throwaway984332 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a bit weird to say we're running out of He, not unless we're running out of CH4. Which, theoretically we are. But practically, with CH4, our modern concern is not running out of it, but the associated GHG emissions of producing and burning it. So we won't run out of He, so much as stop producing it.

CH4, aka Methane, is one Carbon atom and four Hydrogen atoms. There is no Helium in Methane, just Hydrogen.

Helium is a byproduct of natural gas extraction. Radon too.

Re: Radical hydrogen-boron reactor leapfrogs current nuclear fusion tech?

#136

Post by ccleve »

acidburnNSA wrote: post #76

Always happy to see people doing new and interesting stuff with fusion. I got into nuclear technology because of ITER back in the early 2000s. Worked on it continuously (mostly in advanced fission) ever since. > "The timeline question is a tricky one," he says. "I don't want to be a laughing stock by promising we can deliver something in 10 years, and then not getting there. First step is setting up camp as a company…

A number of these steps become easier if the reactor is physically small. A plant that fits in a shipping container has a way easier path to commercial viability.

Small plants require less capital. They're easier to manufacture. They can iterate faster. They have less environmental impact, and therefore fewer regulatory hurdles. They require less labor to build and a smaller supply chain.

I expect that the engineering is harder, because scale can bring efficiencies. But still, I think the winner is going to be a small device, not a behemoth, if only because a small device can come online years earlier.

Re: Radical hydrogen-boron reactor leapfrogs current nuclear fusion tech?

#137

Post by moneytide1 »

Straight from fusion to electricity without a steam turbine with helium to harvest?

I've seen it said here on HN that the amount of helium out of a deuterium/tritium is so small it is negligible.

From article: "My question is: Would that setup produce a continuous fusion for some period with positive net energy generation?

Here is my argument why I think it would: Since Boron is solid at room temperature, it's density is high, so I think the fusion rate per nucleon would be quite high. As far as I know 100keV is the energy needed for Hydrogen-1 and Boron-11 to fuse, while the resultant three He-4 nuclei should have about 8MeV of energy. So indeed if all accelerated protons fuse then the energy produced should be quite higher than the input. The problem that immediately comes to mind is that as the container starts to rapidly heat up as a result of the reactions the Boron inside would no longer be solid and may even start to leak through the opening. But before that happens, would there be at least a brief period where an efficient fusion can be sustained?"

Re: Radical hydrogen-boron reactor leapfrogs current nuclear fusion tech?

#139

Post by DennisP »

andymoe wrote: post #68

So... what is their Current Q number? “The fusion energy gain factor, usually expressed with the symbol Q, is the ratio of fusion power produced in a nuclear fusion reactor to the power required to maintain the plasma in steady state.” [1] [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_energy_gain_factor

Currently zero, because the necessary lasers are just now becoming available.

In theory, they've got a kJ laser to generate the magnetic field, a 30kJ laser hitting the fuel, and a GJ energy output, for Q over 30,000 minus whatever losses you have in the lasers and electricity harvesting.

https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1016/j.mre.2017.05.001

Re: Radical hydrogen-boron reactor leapfrogs current nuclear fusion tech?

#140

Post by pier25 »

LaMarseillaise wrote: post #106
pier25 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How many miracles do we need? Right, but humanity won't scale up fission to power everything.

Why not?

I don't know why, but AFAIK there are no countries investing heavily in fission to make that happen.
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