Fusion Message Board

In this space, visitors are invited to post any comments, questions, or skeptical observations about Philo T. Farnsworth's contributions to the field of Nuclear Fusion research.

Subject: Re: Fusor Neutron Source for a SNUB?
Date: Dec 03, 08:47 am
Poster: Richard Hull

On Dec 03, 08:47 am, Richard Hull wrote:


>Can anyone here calculate just how close we'd have to come to pure Fusor breakeven to be able to use the Fusor as a SNUB neutron source to produce net power out of the system? At the moment, I'd put it at within 3-4 times of breakeven, using D-T fuel, assuming a 33 percent conversion into electricity. Am I being too simplistic and conservative in this calculation? Can we do this easier than I've seen with these simple numbers?
>
>Regards,
>
>Tom Billings
>
>Oregon L5 Society

Tom,

I cannot do the computations, but the idea sounds doable. The problem we would run into is that we are back working with radioactive materials and creating all sorts of nuclides due to fission. It is not just the criticality that people dislike about the fission process, but the long term radiation from the nuclear ashes. (waste disposal)

The pure fusion reaction is not totally free from this either, but much more so than the fission or hybrid fission/fusion reactions.

I personally love standard fission for electrical energy, as I have posted before. It is a good reliable source of cheap power with a viable infrastructure in place NOW! Fission power can be used while real solid alternatives are looked for. It would give us time to look for the ultimate power source which would be non-polluting, safe and compact, rather than leap on a thousand little inefficient stop gap alternatives.

There is a lot of nascent power in all that bomb grade material we are taking out of those arms-control aggreement bomb and missile dismantlings! Rather than store the stuff and let it naturally decay over the next few millinea, we might take some of that power to heat homes. We have already paid for the energy in tax dollars which made the bombs.


Fusion is, ideally, looking for "direct conversion" processes which look extremely attractive as opposed to boiling water with its associated losses. Any neutronic process is going to have to boil water. (as in the case of fission, or hybrids where extremely fast neutrons are the goal.

The simple fusor, is ever made self sustaining would be a water boiler.

The P-B11 reaction is the ideal direct conversion method, but how to do it is the catch. The reaction produces high energy alpha particles in quantity which could be slowed in a series of grid systems and the electricity tapped off directly with out getting all steamed up!

Regardless, we amateur fusor builders are out of that league anyhow.

Richard Hull