Cheap Fusion Soon from Dr. Bussard

[barrykirk]

This is a consolidation of information from other boards with some fantastic links.<br /><br />Basically Dr. Bussard, a former assistant director of the Atomic Energy Commission, has been working on a different and extremely promising alternative method of acheiving fusion using Inertial ElectroStatic Confinement.<br /><br />Here is a link to his paper to the International Astronautical Congress<br /><br />http://www.askmar.com/ConferenceNotes/2006-9%20IAC%20Paper.pdf<br /><br />Here is a link to his video presentation at goggle. Warning this is a 90+ minute streaming video.<br /><br />http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1996321846673788606<br /><br />There is already a thread going on NasaSpaceFlight.<br /><br />http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=5367&posts=129&start=1<br /><br />Note that this is a different approach to fusion than Tokamaks or standard Inertial Confinement approaches.<br /><br />Dr. Bussard has already acheived fusion with small devices and he has shown that can reach and exceed <br />break even using difficult fuels with small lightweight <br />reactors.<br /><br />The fuel he has chosen provides the following reaction<br /><br />p + B11 - /> 3 He4<br /><br />Protium + Boron 11 to Helium<br /><br />This is a aneutronic reaction as oppossed to the more<br />standard<br /><br />Deuterium + Tritium - /> He4 + neutron<br /><br />All of the energy is liberated in the form of high<br />energy alpha particles instead of high energy neutrons.<br /><br />This provides the following advantages.<br /><br />1) The energy can be extracted directly in the form of electricity. Extremely high efficiency is the result.<br /><br />2) There is no radioactive waste and th

 

[barrykirk]

Note that this new fusion device has a good possibility of having a power to weight ratio good enough to go<br />from the surface to LEO with an ISP substantially higher<br />than any chemical rocket could possibly achieve.

 

[thereiwas]

Is this the guy that SF author Larry Niven named his "Bussard Ramjet" interstellar propulsion system after?

 

[billslugg]

BarryKirk<br /><br />I have read through his presentation, but I don't see much more than a plea for more money. It seems he achieved DD fusion at 1^6 s^-1. This, I believe, is pretty run of the mill for a Farnsworth type device. He cites a power gain of .001. I guess that this means he got back one tenth of one percent of what he put in.<br /><br />To say that; <font color="yellow">Dr. Bussard... has shown that can reach and exceed break even using difficult fuels with small lightweight reactors. </font>is inaccurate. <br /><br />He has not shown any p+B11 fusion. It is nowhere in his report. He has predicted it only if he can get another $200 million. <br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

Anyone considered the boron/proton reaction catalyzed with muons?<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

{crikey, why is it always me pointing out the bleeding obvious?}<br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[barrykirk]

The problem with the muon catalysed reaction is that the muons have such a short half life and they are so expensive, in terms of energy, to manufacture.<br /><br />Listen to the video presentation. Yes, there is a plea for more money there, but he has already exceeded the<br />standard Farnsworth device by a huge amount. There is a lot more promise here than standard tokamaks and we've spent billions on them and will spend billions more.<br /><br />He is talking about 2-3 million to construct two small experimental devices which would provide proof positive that just by scaling up he can do this.<br /><br />The 200 million is to construct the actual prototype working power reactor. <br /><br />The closest competitor can't make the same claims Dr. Bussard is, but they say it will take 10 billion Euros or more for ITER and that won't even be a power production reactor. It will just show the way.<br /><br />Dr. Bussard is claiming at this point that he has solved the basic physics problems. All that is left is engineering.

 

[qso1]

My chemistry must be getting rusty, what is protium? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[docm]

In this context;<br /><br />Protium = Hydrogen-1 nucleus = 1 proton, no neutrons.<br /><br />Otherwise it could be used as a synonym for a Hydrogen-1 atom. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[qso1]

Thanks for clearing that up. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>