Why Choice of Fuels Will Determine if Fusion Works

High energy neutrons are hard on a fusion reactor vessel. The private nuclear fusion startup Helion Energy is building an aneutronic reactor that will cost a tiny fraction of the huge costly ITER tokamak reactor in Europe. And perhaps because of Helion’s choice of reactor fuel, the company is likely to achieve commercial fusion far sooner than ITER. Perhaps as soon as 2024. The following video explains the choices involved:

The Helion fusion reactor has many unique features that are being tested and perfected in successive iterations of the design:

Helion’s reactor will produce electricity in a novel way. Rather than using heat to boil water to drive steam turbines, Helion will produce electricity directly from the magnetic field effects of the charged particle products of the reactor.

(3) Direct electricity generation. Most power generators work by producing heat. The heat turns water…