Helion Energy

[Superluminal Gremlin]

I've been reading a lot about fusion (School assignments and such) and was wondering whether Helion Energy has an actual legitimate fusion research or if its just "voodoo fusion" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helion_Energy yes yes i know its wikipedia but its good enough). 

My questions are

1) Is the De-He3 reaction system they are using good enough for commercial energy and why no D-T (He3 is very rare, but they breed it according to their website)?

2) Why is there skepticism about it. There science (at least to a student) is grounded in what looks like solid science. They have actually working prototypes that have been scaling better than planned, and have 10 ish years of practice/knowledge so it seems like they could actually be (maybe) the first?

 

P.S for the love of the kraken keep this thread as fact based as possible. 

EDIT: If you have an opinion, be kind and respectful to fellow forum members. If someone says something you dont agree with, dont blow a fuse. Just stay calm, and have a friendly discussion. 

Ta 

 

 

Edited March 30, 2023 by Superluminal Gremlin
Clarification so people don't shout at each other and lock the thread... and corrects stuff

[sevenperforce]

I took an initial glance. I didn't study nuclear physics closely enough to be able to evaluate this plan off the top of my head; I'd have to dust off some old textbooks.

It smells of snake oil and the wikipedia entry is clearly written by them.

Saying that they have a system that is currently "capable" of 10 Tesla is not the same as actually operating at 10 Tesla. And even if they were operating at 10 Tesla, the difference between 10 Tesla and 40 Tesla is truly extraordinary. Fields over 20 Tesla require superconductors and they're talking about doubling that?

[Krakotte]

FYI, the channel Real Engineering produced a video about them a few months ago:

(I don't have the requiered knowledge to analyse this in details but I am interested in the discussion.)

 

[Piscator]

There was a discussion about them recently in fusion thread:

Point 1) was explained in detail in the videos linked in that thread. It didn't raise any serious red flags for me at that time, but since I'm not an expert either, this probably doesn't mean very much. Basically, using pure deuterium as your source material (since you would be breeding your own He-3) would be a great advantage as you could skip dealing with the expensive and radioactive Tritium entirely.

As for point 2), with any claim that seems too good to be true, there is a substantial chance that is. They wouldn't be the first to fake results, attach som blinkenlights to a spool of copper wire and call it a free energy machine. If their project is technically sound though, there's still the chance that it doesn't make economic sense. The devil is often in the detail, and maintaining your He-3  breeding infrastructure might simply be much more expensive than expected.

[Spaceception]

So back in May, Helion signed a deal with Microsoft to provide a 50 MW reactor by 2028. https://www.helionenergy.com/articles/helion-announces-worlds-first-fusion-ppa-with-microsoft/

And today, Helion announced another deal with Nucor (a steel manufacturing plant) to build a 500 MW reactor. No date has been given. https://www.helionenergy.com/articles/helion-nucor-collaboration-to-deploy-500-mw-fusion-power-plant/

Personally, between these two announcements, I'm tentatively optimistic that Helion is the real deal. But  really, the company can only go one of 2 ways. Either Helion is the next Theranos, or they are legitimately in a position to crack fusion first. 

[Royalswissarmyknife]

4 hours ago, Spaceception said:

Either Helion is the next Theranos, or they are legitimately in a position to crack fusion first. 

My gut tells me to take the first option.

[Shpaget]

That timeline would have been too optimistic even if they had an actual functioning article.

My vote for is Theranos scenario.

[Nuke]

these fusion startups always have ambitious timetables and end up taking just as long as the more common methods. seems to be true for the whole fusion research industry. but its good to try different ideas.

i dont really think there is any reason to rush. at least that was my thinking before people started decommissioning their fusion plants for no good reason other than climate alarmism (which frankly doesn't even make sense). dont worry, so long as you can breathe you can still buy the latest iphone. 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Nuke

[kerbiloid]

Helion is compromised.

Spoiler

 

Voting for the Igneon project. Looks promising.

Spoiler

[farmerben]

I love the idea of two vortices slamming into each other.  The parts I'm suspicious about are the He3 and power generation system.  Would the same basic system work with DD and DT fusion?  Those fusions can occur at lower kinetic energy.  The criticism that DD produces neutrons is sort of a bogus criticism.  I would gladly take an efficient DD machine and contain it within a thermal water jacket, shielded by a concrete underground room.

[darthgently]

54 minutes ago, farmerben said:

I love the idea of two vortices slamming into each other.  The parts I'm suspicious about are the He3 and power generation system.  Would the same basic system work with DD and DT fusion?  Those fusions can occur at lower kinetic energy.  The criticism that DD produces neutrons is sort of a bogus criticism.  I would gladly take an efficient DD machine and contain it within a thermal water jacket, shielded by a concrete underground room.

Neutrons beat the crap out of the materials over time.  The fact that Helion is choosing to avoid them even if it means a less elegant fusion chain makes me see them as possibly more practical and solution oriented.  I'm cautiously optimistic that the Theranos pattern is not involved.  If that pattern were involved Helion would be claiming to have developed amazing materials immune to neutron bombardment and would be pursuing a more familiar and popular fusion chain.  Or so I'm guessing