I many be out of date, but the last I saw, even optimistic projections of the PolyWell limited it to about 100 MW.

Brian H - 04 April 2010 07:08 AM

I many be out of date, but the last I saw, even optimistic projections of the PolyWell limited it to about 100 MW.

As far as I know, the first prototype (duped “WB-100”) would produce 100MW (Dr. Bussard). So see it as a starting point not as an upper limit. But maybe Dr. Nebel changed plans, and I’m out of date…

the power of a polywell is related by its size and or magnetic field. the power of a polywell is supposed to be the fifth power of the radius and the forth power of the magnetic field.

the operating conditions for the 100mw power plant are currently thought to be 1.5meters and .1 tesla magnetic field. with Magnifye 17 tesla super conducting magnets that could really improve matters.
http://nextbigfuture.com/2009/10/magnifye-powerful-17-tesla.html

and here is some news about other fusion attempts
http://nextbigfuture.com/2009/05/nuclear-fusion-and-new-nuclear-fission.html
http://industry.bnet.com/energy/10002897/ten-serious-nuclear-fusion-projects-making-progress-around-the-world/

Tri-Alpha Energy receives $50 million in funding.  Given their previous round of VC funding, this puts the whole project close to $100 million so far, without any publicly reported results.

Tulse - 27 July 2010 01:11 PM

Tri-Alpha Energy receives $50 million in funding.  Given their previous round of VC funding, this puts the whole project close to $100 million so far, without any publicly reported results.

And apparently with none of the original investors ponying up further capital. We have 2 rounds from NASA’s JPL and 2 more from the Abbell Foundation. PolyWell has who knows how many rounds of US Navy funding under its belt.

i like that metric. it’s not about whether someone funds us, so much as whether they fund us again.

Aeronaut - 27 July 2010 11:11 PM

And apparently with none of the original investors ponying up further capital.

I must have missed this in the original report—where is this info?

I agree with vansig, though, that the confidence that investors show through multiple rounds of capital is telling.