Reply To: $40million raised for boron fusion

[jamesr]

Extracting data from neutron detectors is far from trivial, or any electronic device for that matter given the harsh EM pulse given off.

With ordinary hydrogen you wouldn’t get any fusion at all. Even with deuterium the device couldn’t release anything like 30kJ. The size (diameter) of the device was designed for a heavier fill gas (ie boron) – at the moment it has a slightly longer anode to give better results for deuterium, but this will get replaced with a shorter anode for boron operation. Only then will the current be able to get upto the >3MA with a high enough capacitor voltage in order to get any appreciable yield.

Also given the radiation hazard, I doubt they want to be producing high D-D (with a some D-T secondary) fusion neutron counts. Otherwise they’ll end up activating the whole device and be unable to work on it by hand without extra precautions.