Saturday, May 26, 2007

Latest Fusion News

Tom Ligon, an engineer who worked with Dr. Robert Bussard, is giving a talk on fusion powered rockets at the International Space Development Conference in Dallas. Here is a link to Tom's Power Point Presentation at ISDC. Scroll down the page and click on the button in the lower right.

In other news Tri Alpha Energy has just raised $40 million in venture capital for nuclear fusion.

Tri Alpha Energy, which hopes to commercialize nuclear fusion technology, has raised $40 million from Venrock Associates and others, according to VentureWire.

The company, which grew out of the University of California at Irvine, says its advanced plasma fusion technologies could be used to generate electricity as well as eliminate waste from nuclear power plants. A plant based on its technology would cost less than a conventional nuclear plant. Tri Alpha was founded in 1998 and has raised funds in the past.

Tri Alpha is working on a generator in which hydrogen chases boron, according to literature from UC Irvine. These atoms then form a helium atom, which is placed in a particle accelerator. Slowing down the helium generates electricity.
I have some links to their proposed design at Easy Low Cost No Radiation Fusion. Scroll down and look for the Hendrik J. Monkhorst information.

Here are some more details on the venture capital deal from UC Irvine.
Norman Rostoker, research professor of physics and astronomy, received $5.2 million from Tri Alpha Energy Inc. to research a plasma electric generator that will use as fuel a mixture of hydrogen and boron. In this generator, hydrogen will chase boron in a cylinder, eventually resulting in helium nuclei that will be made to escape into a particle accelerator. The backwards-running accelerator will slow down the nuclei, turning the energy released into electricity.
Here is the patent for the Monkhorst/Rostoker design.

Cross Posted at Classical Values and at The Astute Bloggers

6 comments:

Karridine said...

"...slow down the nuclei..."

GET ON! We're on-track, and in a few months (48? 60?) we could be running clean, CHEAP fusion energy, and buying petroleum crude from ONLY the cheapest providers, thereby TRANSFORMING the world's balance of power almost overnight, and in HUMANKIND's favor!

LarryD said...

A "few" months? 4-5 years is a more accurate way to say it, but that might be in the ball park, for getting the first plant online. If the greens don't hobble the process with lawsuits, etc. Which I expect they will, because I think most of the green activists want technology to be rolled back a couple of centuries (in addition to establishing a authoritarian/totalitarian regime).

M. Simon said...

Larry,

Believe it or not I have a number of fanatical Democrats working with me on this.

I'm working on recruiting more righties.

Anonymous said...

How about foreigners that view both sides as the avatars of evil?

eric a said...

It has been almost six months since "first plasma" was achieved, and since that time no relevant news has been forthcoming out of the EMC2 camp. These guys should have something by now.

Hoping for the best

M. Simon said...

Check out my new post up today.