First Light Fusion News

Point out news stories, on the net or in mainstream media, related to polywell fusion.

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Skipjack
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Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2008 2:29 pm

First Light Fusion News

Post by Skipjack »

Seems like they got some funding and are moving ahead with their prototype. They hope to reach break even in 2024 (I guess that depends on funding).
https://www.theengineer.co.uk/first-light-fusion-ukaea/

Edit: This article has some more information on the company and their approach. It is still not entirely clear to me what they are trying to do.
From what I understand they will need to increase driver velocity by a factor of 10 (100 km/s) for break even and 50 (500 km/s) for a powerplant. That seems ambitious.
https://www.neimagazine.com/features/fe ... n-6717317/

crowberry
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Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2013 6:34 am

Re: First Light Fusion News

Post by crowberry »

Here is a news article from Forbes by Gemma Milne on the First Light Fusion status: https://www.forbes.com/sites/gemmamilne ... 24721129f8.

crowberry
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Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2013 6:34 am

Re: First Light Fusion News

Post by crowberry »

There has been a lot of things going on in the Oxford area this week with the General Fusion deal, the Tokamak Energy divertor lab inauguration and first plasma for First Light Fusion. First Light Fusion has released this press release on the 17th of June 2021:
UK Science Minister Amanda Solloway MP to launch First Light Fusion’s maiden ‘Big Gun’ fusion campaign
...
Oxford, UK: Amanda Solloway MP, UK Science Minister and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science, Research and Innovation, will today visit First Light Fusion’s Oxford HQ and officially fire the first ‘shot’ in First Light’s maiden fusion campaign using its newly completed ‘Big Gun’.

At 22 metres long and weighing 25,000 kg, the Big Gun is the largest of its kind in the UK. First Light finalised construction of the £1.1 million device in May 2021 and has since successfully completed the testing and commissioning phase. These ‘hyper velocity’ devices are typically used by astrophysicists to simulate meteorite impacts.

When fired, the gun will launch a projectile into a vacuum chamber at speeds of over 6.5 km/s, or 20 times the speed of sound. The projectile will impact a fusion target – the centrepiece of First Light’s unique approach to fusion.

With the benefit of First Light’s unique amplification technology, the collapsing velocity of the fusion fuel will reach in excess of 70 km/s, or 250,000 kms/hour (over 200 times the speed of sound) producing pressure 30 times the centre of the Earth. The aim is to create the conditions required for fusion.
...


https://firstlightfusion.com/media-arch ... -campaign/

Skipjack
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Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2008 2:29 pm

Re: First Light Fusion News

Post by Skipjack »

They are moving quickly. Still skeptical of their approach, but let's hope they manage to get results.

crowberry
Posts: 672
Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2013 6:34 am

Re: First Light Fusion News

Post by crowberry »

First Light Fusion reports on their progress during 2021 in their latest press release where they also say that they have gotten $45 million in new funding. They are becoming an important player in terms of obtained funding and staffing. How their approach works out in the end remains to be seen?

https://firstlightfusion.com/media-arch ... und-raise/

crowberry
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Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2013 6:34 am

Re: First Light Fusion News

Post by crowberry »

FLF reports that they have detected their first neutrons from the D-D reaction. Their analysis has been independently confirmed by UKAEA. It is nice to see yet another way to skin a cat.

https://firstlightfusion.com/media/fusion
https://firstlightfusion.com/science-hu ... l-campaign
Last edited by crowberry on Tue Apr 05, 2022 12:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

RERT
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Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2014 9:10 pm

Re: First Light Fusion News

Post by RERT »

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release ... 17509.html

Crossed in the post. Above is the press release.

crowberry
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Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2013 6:34 am

Re: First Light Fusion News

Post by crowberry »

The Telegraph has combined two videos by FLF into one and added some captions. The 1 min 5 s long video shows how the FLF reactor concept looks like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60dmC-9MqVI

First Light Fusion has redesigned their website, so it is has quite a lot more material compared to the previous version.

http://firstlightfusion.com/

Munchausen
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Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:36 pm
Location: Nikaloukta

Re: First Light Fusion News

Post by Munchausen »

I was struck by the idea of weaponizing this technology. To make a pure fusion gun type weapon. But:

https://firstlightfusion.com/technology/power-plant

"We are aiming for a power plant producing ~150 MW of electricity, firing once every 30 seconds"

120 firings an hour. Which should make for a 1250000 Wh or 4500000000 J per firing. TNT is rated at 4600000 J (wikipedia) per kilo so that equals ca 978 kg TNT or about a ton.

No way near worth the expense.

Carl White
Posts: 476
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2009 10:44 pm

Re: First Light Fusion News

Post by Carl White »

"Oxford nuclear fusion spin-out raising £400m after energy breakthrough"

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/20 ... akthrough/
An Oxford start-up that claimed a major breakthrough in the quest for nuclear fusion is seeking £400m to fund the next stage of its research.
But why announce this beforehand?

Giorgio
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Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2009 6:15 pm
Location: China, Italy

Re: First Light Fusion News

Post by Giorgio »

Uhm... they just got $45M in February 2022 and (as far as we know) they only proved that "some" neutron was generated.

They are pretty far from any major breakthrough to ask for additional $400M.....
A society of dogmas is a dead society.

mvanwink5
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Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:07 am
Location: N.C. Mountains

Re: First Light Fusion News

Post by mvanwink5 »

Looks like ignorant people with money, toss out the word 'Fusion', say neutrons, climate change, and the magic money jumps into the hat.

Comedian W.C. Fields said 'Never give a sucker an even break.'
Counting the days to commercial fusion. It is not that long now.

Giorgio
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Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2009 6:15 pm
Location: China, Italy

Re: First Light Fusion News

Post by Giorgio »

mvanwink5 wrote:
Wed Aug 03, 2022 12:33 pm
Looks like ignorant people with money, toss out the word 'Fusion', say neutrons, climate change, and the magic money jumps into the hat.
I was thinking to go public with my new crypto-fusion reactor. Instead of generating useless neutrons and energy my technology will transform any suitable fuel directly into cryptovalues.
Is a great breakthrough, and in addition to "fusion" and "neutrons" I also used the word "crypto", so my plan is extremely solid.

Now, somebody hand me some cash quickly!
A society of dogmas is a dead society.

Enginerd
Posts: 189
Joined: Sun Feb 07, 2010 5:29 am

Re: First Light Fusion News

Post by Enginerd »

Gigantic, 70-Foot Nuclear Fusion Gun Could Change the World
https://www.newsweek.com/first-light-fu ... uk-1754934
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."
--Philip K. Dick

mvanwink5
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Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:07 am
Location: N.C. Mountains

Re: First Light Fusion News

Post by mvanwink5 »

'Scientists, engineers'...with beards, **wearing COVID masks**, firing a 70 foot 'nuclear gun'. That is epic, could be a 1950's science fiction Flash Gordon, or another Godzilla movie.
Counting the days to commercial fusion. It is not that long now.

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