Fusion Alternatives

We here at the Focus Fusion Society think our approach is the best for realizing the promise of fusion.  However, we also think that all promising alternative routes to fusion should be adequately funded, that the fusion field as a whole needs more money.  What are the other approaches?

Speed-2 Plasma Focus Device

As of March, 2006, Lawrenceville Plasma Physics and the Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission (CCHEN) have agreed to collaborate on a three-year experimental test of the “focus fusion” approach to fusion energy (see article on collaboration here). The project will use the Speed-2 plasma focus device at CCHEN’s Thermonuclear Plasma Laboratory in Santiago, Chile, one of the two largest plasma focus devices in the world.

The Magnetic Field Effect

The magnetic field effect is important for focus fusion.  By suppressing the transfer of energy from the ions, which generate the nuclear fusion energy, to the electrons, which emit x-rays, we can reduce the amount of energy lost to the plasma by the x–rays, thus heat it hotter and gain more fusion energy.

History of Focus Fusion

With an emphasis on the Dense Plasma Focus.

The Trouble with Tritium

27 kg and decaying.

Hydrogen-Boron vs. Deuterium-Tritium

Nuclear fusion has the potential to generate power without the radioactive waste of nuclear fission, but that depends on which atoms you decide to fuse.  Conventional fusion approaches work with deuterium and tritium, while focus fusion works with hydrogen and boron eleven.

Conventional Fusion vs. Focus Fusion

Energy production has three main elements:  fuel, reactor and generator (why these three?).  Conventional fusion and focus fusion differ significantly in their approach to these three elements:

• Fuel: Focus Fusion uses a different fuel, hydrogen and boron, rather than the conventional Deuterium and Tritium. 
• Reactor: It uses a much smaller, inexpensive, more elegant reactor, the Dense Plasma Focus.  In contrast, conventional approaches to fusion revolve around the tokamak, a large, unwieldy and very expensive device that has consumed billions of dollars in research money and is still very far from achieving net energy. 
• Generator:The Focus Fusion approach seeks to generate electricity directly. The tokamak is designed to generate heat which then has to be converted to electricity using expensive turbines and generators.

Focus Fusion Reactor

= Plasma Focus device + Hydrogen-Boron Fuel

Focus Fusion is NOT Cold Fusion

Focus fusion is very hot, in fact, requiring billions of degrees of energy to occur.

Main Criticisms

What are the main criticisms of focus fusion and how do we answer them? 

1. Too much x-ray cooling
2. Plasmoids can’t exist