Part Two of Two Parts (Pease read Part One first)
The Chinese also have been working on fusion research for a decade. They recently announced a successful confinement test in the HT-7 tokamak in Hefei, China. They were assisted in the tests by researchers from the Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering at the University of Illinois in Urban-Champaign. A major innovation was to circulate liquid lithium along the inside of the plasma confinement chamber. Energy confinement was improved by ten percent. This can reduce the diameter of the confinement chamber by one third. The cost of construction may be reduced as much as a factor of ten. This definitely puts the Chinese in the lead for production of commercial fusion reactors. The Chinese intend to be a major supplier of advanced energy generation systems. They have been focusing on nuclear fission power reactors but would be quite happy to be an international supplier of nuclear fusion reactors too.
While these three research programs are utilizing designs that have been refined for decades, there are other approaches to nuclear fusion that are being researched. In the United States, funding for nuclear fusion research has been relatively small compared to these other national and international programs. And, existing nuclear fusion research funding is under threat. An advisory panel to the U.S. Department of Energy has recently subjected that one of three U.S. fusion projects be mothballed and that the U.S. expand its participation in the ITER project. Fortunately, the private section is picking up the slack in fusion research in the U.S.
The U.S. Navy has invested twelve million dollars in the development of what is called the Polywell fusion reactor at Eneryg/Matter Conversion Corporation, Inc. (EMC2) since 1999. The Polywell reactor is based on electron and gas injection into a confinement chamber. While EMC2 was working for the Navy, its research was secret. Now the Navy has ended its support and EMC2 is seeking thirty million dollars to fund the next stage of its research. It is estimated that a Polywell nuclear fusion reactor that was about five feet in diameter should be able to produce excess energy.
Lockheed Martin, the big defense contractor, is working on their own fusion reactor design. Their program was announced in 2013. The Lockheed Martin Compact Fusion Reactor is a design that is referred to as a high-beta fusion reactor where the ration of plasma pressure to magnetic pressure is extremely high when compared to a tokomak design. This design is supposed to result a much cheaper and smaller fusion reactor than many other designs. They were hoping to have a prototype built by 2019.
Helion Energy is a firm in Redmond, WA with a unique approach to fusion power. Their reactor is shaped like two traffic cones with their small ends embedded in a grapefruit. Magnetic fields function like pistons to drive gas in the ignition chamber to fuse. The rebound of the magnetic fields generates electricity. This reactor does not require a steam turbine to convert heat to electricity which means that the reactors will be small and cheap to build. They expect to have a prototype in a few years.
There are other interesting fusion research projects both in the U.S. and abroad but this post covers some of the main projects. Several companies intend to have a small, safe and relatively inexpensive commercial fusion power reactor on the market within ten years. With many projects based on many different designs, the odds of success are high. So perhaps the old joke about forty years until commercial fusion can finally be laid to rest.
