INNOVATION January-February 2012

f ea t u r e s

General Fusion employees prepare a spherical test chamber to test the effects of 14 pressure-driven pistons striking simultaneously to induce a centrally focused acoustic wave in a swirling vortex of molten lead.

has stated its belief that, “The consensus from all detailed [external] reviews is that the physics is solid, the engineering is challenging but achievable, and the technology is worth pursuing.” Simulation and reviews are helpful, but General Fusion must design, build and operate a working machine. The plan is ambitious and there is a real risk of failure. Lately the company has been leasing extra building units at a Burnaby industrial park to accommodate increased staff and workshops. Since 2009, staff numbers have grown from four to 60. As a visitor learns, it’s a hands-on place: warning sirens sound as capacitors are charged and tested behind portable safety shielding. Employees wear coveralls and hard hats. Michael Delage is Vice-President, Business Development, and has a background in engineering physics. During a discussion about funding, he notes, “Canada is the only G8 country without a national fusion program.” Delage leads a tour of what he calls the world’s largest plasma injector—a double-walled 5 m stainless steel cone, looped with wiring and tubing. Two banks of capacitors create 2.4 MJ of power to form and accelerate the plasma, while coils wrap it in a magnetic field to hold it off the injector walls. Delage comments, “It takes 300 microseconds to make a doughnut-shaped plasma, one million degrees Celsius at the tip.” He adds, “A lot of things we do here are on the leading edge of science and engineering.” They include the scale of the plasma injector, production of

fusion machine, with investors including Braemar Energy Ventures, Cenovus Energy, Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, and Growthworks Capital. General Fusion scientists and engineers are developing a form of magnetized target fusion conceived 30 years ago at the US Naval Research Laboratory, but using current technology. As the company’s scientists envision it, a spherical vessel will have a vacuum filled with a swirling blend of lead and lithium at 400 ºC. This swirl will create a cylindrical vortex on the vertical axis of the vessel. Meanwhile plasma will be made from hydrogen fuel heated using a high-voltage electrical discharge from capacitors, held with magnets, and injected into the centre of the sphere. Pneumatic pistons around the outside of the sphere will be computer activated to send a shockwave through the molten metal. The wave will collapse the vortex cavity to create fusion conditions. The plasma will fuse in microseconds, releasing neutrons into the lead-lithium, heating it while producing helium and tritium. Some heat will be transferred to run a steam turbine and generate electrical power. Each fusion pulse will produce net 100 MJ. This scenario may seem outlandish, but no lasers, superconducting magnets, or exotic containment materials are necessary. The company cooperates on research and development with Los Alamos and on computer simulation with the All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics. General Fusion

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