Student under investigation for building and operating a fusor

[Ivy Matt]

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20140629000001&cid=1104

Chen Kuo-yi, a college student at Taiwan’s National Taitung University, is reported to have created a homemade fusion reactor costing under NT$13,000 (US$435). The country’s Atomic Energy Council has investigated the reactor and the student could face jail and a heavy fine if it is found to have caused radioactive contamination, reports our sister paper China Times.

My congratulations to Chen on building a Farnsworth fusor for less than $500! No details on the outcome of the investigation. Hopefully it will be resolved favorably to Chen soon.

Here’s a video he posted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77sw5zQQFR8

星星 means “star”.

[meemoe_uk]

The way the AEC scramble like a squadron of F16s to investigate the radiation and how the only angle the media want to take is RADIATION THREAT TERRORISM is sad, but another symptom of the top down suppression of nuclear power.

Fusors should be in the same danger rating as bananas. A sunny day is more dangerous wrt radiation.

Will the AEC investigate and arrest lightning clouds when they fuse light elements?

[delt0r]

While I totally agree that it overreacting. A fusor is far more dangerous than a banana. The levels of xrays are not trivial and without proper precautions can lead to well beyond recommended safe dose limits.

[vansig]

how much neutron radiation comes from one? my friend wants to build one anyway

[delt0r]

Not normally enough to worry even with DD fuel. Since a prototype would be with plan H there would be none. But then again they can yield up to 3×10^11 neutrons. Probably best to be prudent.

The biggest danger is high voltage, xrays and vacuum chambers in that order. Nothing that can’t be safe if your not silly. The High voltage source is typically the hardest thing to get if you have a budget. Good vacuum is hard to do without some good equipment and some good procedures.

[vansig]

DIY vacuum pump and chamber

[delt0r]

yea that will have a very poor vacuum and there will be lots of out-gassing crap in it.

[Ivy Matt]

Here’s another source in English: http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201407050013.aspx

Though the self-made “Fusor” has proven a hit online, it hasn’t been tested to verify it actually does anything. And applied sciences department head Lin Chih-ming made a point of clarifying that it is not in fact a fusion reactor, but rather a deuterium plasma machine.

Well, it evidently ionizes deuterium. And there’s no point in using deuterium gas unless you’re aiming for fusion. So it seems to me that Chen was aiming for fusion. Of course, it’s entirely possible he didn’t achieve it, and perhaps won’t achieve it with his $500 fusor. But if nobody found evidence of fusion, I don’t suppose the AEC will have any kind of a case against him. I mean, they don’t ban plasma globes, or neon or fluorescent lights in Taiwan, do they?

[meemoe_uk]

20,000 Taiwanese people die of cigarettes every year. how many people people in the world have ever died of fusors? I’m guessing its 0. Logically, until fusor deaths overtake cigarette deaths in Taiwan, any health and safety group e.g. AEC should be concentrated on bringing the tobacco companies to justice.

[ikanreed]

Can’t any sort of fusor(obviously, aneutronic fuels aside) be used as a neutron source for breeding actual large scale radiation sources that tends to be frowned on for non-proliferation reasons?

[delt0r]

I have done the math here many times. I will do it again. The Best any fusor has done is 3×10^11 neutrons per second. Lets say we want 239grams of Plutonium from 238grams of Uranium. (1 mole). It would take 63 thousand years to do this assuming 100% of neutrons are the captures we want.

To get meaningful breading times, your neutron source is a power source.

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