How do you get the helium out of a fusion reactor?

[fenderzilla]

A fusion reactor is a machine that uses intense heat and pressure to force the nuclei of one element to fuse into those of another - most feasibly hydrogen into helium. Typically, the deuterium/tritium fuel mixture is heated up until it becomes plasma, then it is guided magnetically into the reactor chamber where it can undergo fusion and turn into helium. Now here's what I don't understand; where does the helium go? how can it be removed without letting the hydrogen isotopes out as well, or without shutting down the reactor?

[PB666]

put it in party balloons, problem solved.

Helium is very valuble now a days. H3 is a starting material for some of these new age reactors.

[NuclearNut]

[quote name='PB666']put it in party balloons, problem solved.

Helium is very valuble now a days. H3 is a starting material for some of these new age reactors.[/QUOTE]
Well if you need an initial neutronic fusion stage to get the fuel it becomes quite perfectly useless, unless you can mine the fuel, aneutronic fusion is useless . The primary use right now for He-3 is as a gas to fill neutrob detectors. It being only available as a decay product of tritium makes it horrendously expensive.

[SargeRho]

That should answer it:

[url]https://www.euro-fusion.org/faq/at-what-point-during-the-fusion-process-do-the-helium-nuclei-stop-adding-to-plasma-heating-and-become-an-impurity-to-be-removed/[/url]

As for getting Helium 3 for fusion: The Moon at first, and later on Uranus.

[Nuke]

helium is probibly going to be removed by the vacuum system.

for reactions that produce alpha particles (helium nucleus), you can let them pick up an electron (usually as part of a direct conversion system), which makes them neutral. then it can be removed by mechanical means. polywells would do this on the p-b11 reaction. i dont know how tokamaks would remove their alpha particles, but i think they physically impact the walls (energy is too high to contain by the magnetic fields) and pick up an electron there to become neutral. Edited November 19, 2015 by Nuke

[Ralathon]

[quote name='SargeRho']
As for getting Helium 3 for fusion: The Moon at first, and later on Uranus.[/QUOTE]

Or, you know, just bombard Lithium with neutrons to produce He3.... That's a lot cheaper and easier.

[More Boosters]

[quote name='Ralathon']Or, you know, just bombard Lithium with neutrons to produce He3.... That's a lot cheaper and easier.[/QUOTE]

Nah I like Uranus.

[Elthy]

Since the reaction takes place in a magnetic field you can use the different properties of a helium nuclei from the other elements in the reactor. It has a different charge and mass than deuterium/tritium, so you can design the magneic field to direct those helium nuclei to a vacuum pump.

[SomeGuy12]

TLDR, the heliums come hurtling out of the plasma in the middle of the reaction. As Nuke points you, you can add an electron back from a wire mesh grid energized to high voltages outside of the reaction core. Once it's neutral, the big honking magnets in the reactor no longer affect it, and it will just float around randomly outside the core. You have a vacuum pump always on, sucking gas out of the core, and it will get sucked out from that.

The gas you have sucked out of the reaction probably then has to be cooled and condensed, and the helium separated, and then you can make party balloons or use it to cool your superconducting magnets or just vent it because you don't care.

[PB666]

[quote name='SomeGuy12']TLDR, the heliums come hurtling out of the plasma in the middle of the reaction. As Nuke points you, you can add an electron back from a wire mesh grid energized to high voltages outside of the reaction core. Once it's neutral, the big honking magnets in the reactor no longer affect it, and it will just float around randomly outside the core. You have a vacuum pump always on, sucking gas out of the core, and it will get sucked out from that.

The gas you have sucked out of the reaction probably then has to be cooled and condensed, and the helium separated, and then you can make party balloons or use it to cool your superconducting magnets or just vent it because you don't care.[/QUOTE]

You have adhd? The guy writes two moderately long sentences and its a struggle for you to read?

When the internal temperature of the reactor is in the millions of degrees,myou dont have to do much sucking to get the helium out, it pretty much wants to be gone through any opening that you provide. Edited November 19, 2015 by PB666

[Nuke]

maintaining a good vacuum is essential to running most reactors. its likely going to be on a pid controller to keep levels below the desired threshold. pumps will kick on when the measured pressure in the chamber approaches the threshold. neutral atoms in particular are rather bad, they steal energy from the things you want hot, conduct it to the walls of the reactor and your plasma never gets hot enough to fuse. fusion products on the other hand are going to be at energy levels higher than the yet to fuse plasma and get ejected from confinement. then its not hard to get rid of them after that. Edited November 20, 2015 by Nuke