Fusion PowerWhat?
Why?How?
Oliver Snow PMP BEng
Fusion
Sources of Elements
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/N/nucleosynthesis.html
Relative Abundance of Elements
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nucleosynthesis
7 Billion People
image courtesy of chrisroll FreeDigitalPhotos.net
and counting...
Burning Up• Fossil Fuels are largest source of energy
• Average coal-fired plant burns 10,000 tonnes per day
• over 7 billion tonnes of coal every year world wide
• plus about 1 Cubic Mile of Oil per Year
= Lots of air pollutionhttp://www.iea.org/aboutus/faqs/coal/http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2186
So Whathappens IF...... we stay on this track?
Over 1,000 new coal-fired power plants planned
Acceptable Future?
"If the average energy consumption per person
doubles, this country will be choked to death by polluted air"
http://nextbigfuture.com/2014/03/china-targets-new-molten-salt-thorium.html
In the US, the median
person pays $1 in 6 for
energy
$9,000/year, $22 a day
Worldwide:
$1 a day for energy
on $3 a day
income
Fission – an Alternative?
•Cost of Fukushima Daichi disaster - $300bn and counting…
What IF...we change track?
Renewables?• Won‘t scale fast enough
• Cannot match Coal / Oil for cost
• Not suitable for baseload power
• Energy storage still in early stages
„Conventional“ Fusion
D + T -> He + Neutr
HEAT
http://iter.rma.ac.be/en/Documents/Pictures/
In the Race for D-T Fusion
13th Feb 2014
„…$5 billion National Ignition Facility, where scientists recently got a tiny bit closer to their goal of creating a controlled fusion reaction…”
Still just a big hole in the ground...
Magnetised Target Fusion
General Fusion (MTF)
• Targeting 2018 for Net Gain
High-β (beta) Fusion Reactor
„pB11“ Fusion:
eutronic“
The Race for Aneutronic Fusion
• Lawrenceville Plasma Physics DPF (2015 ?)
• Polywell (US Navy, Secret) IEC (201x ???)
• Tri Alpha Energy Field Reversed(20??)
Field Reversed Configuration (3α)
http://www.alternative-energy-action-now.com/tri-alpha-energy.html
Polywell IEC
http://thepolywellblog.blogspot.com.au/2012_07_01_archive.html
Lawrenceville Plasma Physics Dense Plasma Focus
Goal product: 5 MW Focus Fusion generator
At approx $1M / unit
Lower projected cost than any other energy tech
$60/kW or 0.2 cents/kWh
Focus Fusion Timeline
2013-2014: Scientific demo
2017-2018: Commercial prototype
2019: Mass manufacture
Independent Review Assessment
“a much higher
level of investment is
warranted“
More Information
http://www.lawrencevilleplasmaphysics.com
http://focusfusion.org
http://generalfusion.com
http://www.industrytap.com/can-fusion-energy-generate-unlimited-clean-energy-by-2017/2894
http://www.alternative-energy-action-now.com/tri-alpha-energy.html
http://thepolywellblog.blogspot.com.au/
Thank You
Aneutronic Fusion Comparison
Log
Tem
per
atu
re
(eV
)
Log (Density x Confinement Time) (sec/cc)