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General Fusion's Approach
General Fusion is using the MTF approach but with a new, patented and cost
effective compression system to collapse the plasma.
GF will build a ~3 meter diameter spherical tank filled with liquid metal
(lead-lithium mixture). The liquid is spun to open up a vertical cylindrical
cavity in the center of the sphere (vortex). Two spheromaks (magnetized plasma
“smoke ring”) are injected from each end of the cavity. They merge in the center
to form a single magnetized plasma target. The outside of the sphere is covered
with pneumatic rams. The rams use compressed steam to accelerate pistons to ~50
m/s. These pistons simultaneously impact the outside of the sphere and launch a
spherical compression wave in the liquid metal. As the wave travels and focuses
towards the center, it becomes stronger and evolves into a strong shock wave.
When the shock arrives in the center, it rapidly collapses the cavity with the
plasma in it. At maximum compression the conditions for fusion are briefly met
and a fusion burst occurs releasing its energy in fast neutrons. The neutrons
are slowed down by the liquid metal causing it to heat up. A heat exchanger
transfers that heat to a standard steam cycle turbo-alternator to produce
electricity for the grid. Some of the steam is used to run the rams. The lithium
in the liquid metal finally absorbs the neutrons and produces tritium that is
extracted and used as fuel for subsequent shots. This cycle is repeated about
one time per second.
The use of low-tech pneumatic rams in place of sophisticated high power
electrical systems reduces the cost of the energy delivered to the plasma by a
factor of 10 making such a power plant commercially competitive. Because the
fusion plasma is totally enclosed in the liquid metal, the neutron flux at the
reactor wall is very low. Other fusion schemes struggle with a high neutron flux
at the wall that rapidly damages the machine and also produces some radio-active
material. Frequent robotic replacement of the then radio-active plasma facing
components is a costly problem for many fusion machines.
General Fusion has patented this technology and believes that a reactor working
on this principle could be built at a much lower cost than using the old
magnetic and laser fusion approaches. Such a power plant would make fusion a
commercially viable clean power source.
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