Reply To: Set up a holding company

[zapkitty]

Ivy Matt wrote: After reading the article I’m not certain if they meant Li6/Li7+Be9, or if they meant p+Li6/Li7 and p+Be9. I kind of think it’s the latter. I’m not familiar with any fusion reaction involving Be9 as an input, but I am somewhat familiar with the p+Li6 and p+Li7 reactions. The former produces a He4 ion at 1.7 MeV and a He3 ion at 2.3 MeV, for a total of 4 MeV. The latter produces two He4 ions at a total of 17.2 MeV. Lately I’ve been wondering why p+B11 is seen as the “Holy Grail” of aneutronic fusion, and p+Li7 isn’t. There aren’t any downsides to p+Li7 as far as I can tell, and it should be easier for most confinement concepts to achieve.

Well, I’d squirreled that paper away for ideas and references (along with a lot of others) but had not paid attention to their aneutronic fuel list until I began reviewing my spaceplane assumptions. Then the “Be” registered… 🙂

I wonder what lithium compounds might be suitable, if any…