Reply To: Newbie pB11 Fuel Questions

[Aeronaut]

Welcome to FocusFusion, NoSmoke. I’ll try to answer the questions I can, and let others fill in the physics parts.

We’re currently burning D-D to confirm that the machine and sensors are working correctly and reliably, as well as proving as much of the theory as practical in the known regime of D-D fusion. But the fuel of choice is pB-11, make no mistake. Like the PolyWell’s venetian blinds, our coil is likely going to be handling some incredible voltages on every single pulse. Fortunately, 5MW at 1MV works out to only 5A, which should help somewhat.

The low energy neutrons are still dangerous, since they drill through flesh just like their high-powered counterparts, which do have the energy to make cells radioactive. These low energy neutrons from the aneutronic fusion side reactions can be shielded to less than background radiation levels using a 1 meter water jacket surrounded by 10cm of boron-10, covered by a few cm of lead. The shielded version would not need much more floorspace than the test rig, except in production units we’d need to add some serious vacuum pumps and power conditioning circuitry. Figure a 2 stall garage with a high ceiling.

In any given machine cycle, the p and B-11 ions are crushed into a near-solid form by the collapsing magnetic field, into what we call the plasmoid- a microscopic magnetic bubble which heats and compresses the fuel gasses into the range where fusion pretty much has to happen if science and theory are both right. This eliminates most of the individual fuel ions, replacing them with the helium ion beam and the electron beam leaving the decaying plasmoid from opposing ends, as directed by the magnetic field. The electron beam is somewhat imaginary, since it is absorbed by the plasmoid, further heating it.

Didn’t know that p-N14 was an option- can’t remember seeing any threads discussing it.