Search found 6812 matches
- Wed Mar 06, 2024 7:13 am
- Forum: News
- Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
- Replies: 671
- Views: 113452
Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
The heat load may be instantaneous and it may sound like a lot, but the total amount of energy transferred to the walls is not that high and that is what counts in the end. I would want to think that the people at Helion know what they are doing after they have built how many machines with the same ...
- Tue Mar 05, 2024 2:52 am
- Forum: General
- Topic: General anti-fusion attitude
- Replies: 14
- Views: 1446
Re: General anti-fusion attitude
Oh yeah! I have noticed that a lot. Usually it is because someone made a YouTube video. And somehow that someone knows everything and everything better than the people actually working on it. A good term is "arm chair engineers".
- Sat Mar 02, 2024 2:16 am
- Forum: News
- Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
- Replies: 671
- Views: 113452
Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
ran across this video explainer on Kirtley's paper, sorry if it was shared earlier but it really sheds a lot of light on why Helion's FRC approach has exceeded other FRC efforts (ion/electron temperature ratio was the major key) https://mediacentral.princeton.edu/media/JPP08December2022_DKirtley/1_...
- Tue Feb 27, 2024 4:15 am
- Forum: News
- Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
- Replies: 671
- Views: 113452
- Mon Feb 26, 2024 1:37 pm
- Forum: News
- Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
- Replies: 671
- Views: 113452
Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
I think ‘counter intuitive’ is a little kind. I heard that France was reducing nuclear power and adding gas to make way for renewables, because the gas plants were required for load following. In that context if Helion can load follow, it’s a big deal. If it’s baseload cost is less than wind and so...
- Fri Feb 23, 2024 3:12 am
- Forum: News
- Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
- Replies: 671
- Views: 113452
Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
SJ We had gas turbine peakers at our plant & they were dispatched based on the number of 'cycles remaining'. Gas turbines operate at high temperatures & large pieces of metal that go through a heat up & cool cycle will see fatigue, that & stress due to rotation speeds cause cracks to form. Oh, yeah...
- Thu Feb 22, 2024 6:01 am
- Forum: News
- Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
- Replies: 671
- Views: 113452
Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
The thing about peakers is that they have start up costs due to heat stress cycles so they use significant life every time they start up even if they do not generate 1 MW. Helion would run their units all the time even if it were only to generate more He3 & tritium. I am not sure about the heat str...
- Thu Feb 22, 2024 5:47 am
- Forum: News
- Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
- Replies: 671
- Views: 113452
Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
One other source of revenue for Helion not mentioned much is licensing. Once the technology is proven later this decade (something which I have little doubt will happen), the Mitsubishis and Westinghouses of the world, or those looking to supplant them, will be chomping at the bit to license the te...
- Wed Feb 21, 2024 9:52 am
- Forum: News
- Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
- Replies: 671
- Views: 113452
Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
Has any estimate been put forward by Helion as to what it will cost to manufacture a 50 MWe power plant? I think that it depends on how far into the mass production they are. The first plants likely won't be as cheap as the later ones when mass production is in full swing and they have built their ...
- Wed Feb 21, 2024 2:16 am
- Forum: News
- Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
- Replies: 671
- Views: 113452
Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
The obsession is not with tritium burning, it’s with evacuation being a limiting factor for power production. Evacuating less means putting up with burning waste tritium. They are still limited by wall loads more than anything. There are a few other things too that I am not sure I am at liberty to ...
- Fri Feb 16, 2024 6:42 pm
- Forum: News
- Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
- Replies: 671
- Views: 113452
Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
If Helion's reactor could run in 'dirty' mode, still evacuating at 10Hz, but with two pulses between evacuations, it would generate circa twice the power. The machine would still be limited by the wall loads. You don't want your first wall to melt or crack. What I think would be easier is to have t...
- Fri Feb 16, 2024 1:59 am
- Forum: News
- Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
- Replies: 671
- Views: 113452
Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
This from the UK: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/29/gas-fired-plants-uk-lights-on-cost-profits-energy-crisis Producers getting up to £6 ~$7 per kWh at some times. Yeah, that is for gas peaker plants. They are notoriously expensive. One reason is that they are on so rarely. So in orde...
- Wed Feb 14, 2024 8:45 pm
- Forum: News
- Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
- Replies: 671
- Views: 113452
Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
It should be more like 50 cent/kWh. They would make ~7 kg of Tritium/year. Also, do not compare end consumer prices to the price the producer gets. E.g. nuclear fission plants produce electricity at between 4 cents to 8 cents/kWh. Solar and wind can be lower than that, but then they have hidden cost...
- Wed Feb 14, 2024 3:19 am
- Forum: News
- Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
- Replies: 671
- Views: 113452
Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
The point about selling the Tritium is a good one. Yeah, this is the crazy part. At the projected cost of 1 cent/kWh a 50 MWe Helion mixed mode power plant would make about 4 million/year in revenue. At the current price of 30,000 USD/gram, selling the Tritium from the same power plant would make H...
- Tue Feb 13, 2024 6:15 am
- Forum: News
- Topic: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
- Replies: 671
- Views: 113452
Re: Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024
If they don't evacuate the chamber every time, D-T reactions, and subsequently 14 MeV neutrons, become a much bigger problem. Yes, I was aware, but there may be compensating advantages. Given the T is highly reactive, is it safe to assume that all of the T from one pulse would react with D in a sub...