Reply To: Repowering the electric utility industry

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Lerner wrote: We have a document on this but I have to find it. There are two minor reactions. In one, the alphas, which are still trapped in the plasmoids, undergo another reaction with the boron and produce very low energy neutrons, which must be shielded against but are too feeble to create activation in the materials we are using. We calculated that you could carry the Be anode in your pocket after it was exposed for a year. The other is a very high energy p B11 reaction which produces C11, with a very short lifetime (20 minutes). That is what has to decay before the device can be serviced. I know of no other fuel that produces fewer neutrons, and the main reaction pB11->3 He4 does in fact produce none.

So, to be clear, would a pB11 FF reactor definitely need shielding to be around humans, or not?