Helion Energy to demonstrate net electricity production by 2024

[Munchausen]

Foto of poster:

https://x.com/dekirtley/status/18445760 ... 02/photo/1

[jrvz]

https://www.energy.senate.gov/hearings/ ... hearing-to

question:
00:51:00
"are you still on track to show it can produce electricity by the end of this year?"

answer:
00:51:51
my summary: on track for testing before end of year, demonstrate electricity likely next year.

...and generate electricity for Microsoft in 2029.

I thought Ms. Siebens did a very good job. The other two spoke in generalities. She gave specifics. I think she did miss one opportunity, though. Sen. Murkowski asked about the suitability of fusion for supplying small communities in Alaska. Ms. Siebens mentioned Helion's small external power demand, small footprint, and small fuel requirement. She should also have mentioned the small cooling requirement. Most 50 MW power plants (including all the other fusion approaches I know of) would need to get rid of 100 MW of heat. I believe Helion's cooling requirement will be more like 10 MW. It won't require a sizable river.

[mvanwink5]

She should also have mentioned the small cooling requirement. Most 50 MW power plants (including all the other fusion approaches I know of) would need to get rid of 100 MW of heat. I believe Helion's cooling requirement will be more like 10 MW. It won't require a sizable river.

Yes! Size of plant & heat rejection criteria on siting & permitting cannot be overstated, this is a huge factor. Even for space stations, heat rejection is a major issue (after SpaceX's success we need to expand our use geography to space).

[Enginerd]

Does anyone know the expected temperate of the heat needing to be dissipated?
Is air cooling a possibility?

[TallDave]

Yes! Size of plant & heat rejection criteria on siting & permitting cannot be overstated, this is a huge factor. Even for space stations, heat rejection is a major issue (after SpaceX's success we need to expand our use geography to space).

Somewhat counterintuitively, heat rejection is actually harder in space than almost anywhere else (it's basically engineering inside a clear Thermos bottle at noon).

Of course the big advantage for a fusion plant in space is free vacuum, no pumps or seals required. I think it will still take a few Starships to get a Helion fusion reactor in orbit but it's probably feasible by 2030 or so.

From there you can use the 50MW as an ion engine to get a few newtons of thrust for potentially hundreds of years by directing the charged products in a stream. That doesn't sound very useful until you start looking at interstellar travel times under constant acceleration. Possibly cheaper than a ramscoop and/or laser.

[Skipjack]

Does anyone know the expected temperate of the heat needing to be dissipated?
Is air cooling a possibility?

Polaris is still air cooled. Future power plants will have a higher pulse rate and will (very likely) need other means of cooling.

From what I understand heating from X-rays is actually a big factor (maybe the biggest factor), but don't quote me on that. Wouldn't be the first time that I misunderstood something. Average heating is not that big of a deal, but heat pulse is more of a problem.

[Skipjack]

Information dump, since I have been super busy at work lately with little time to post here:

Special Competitive Studies Project: Future of Energy Generation and Storage with David Kirtley and Brandon Sorbom of CFS. Not much news here but still a nice talk. David Kirtley talks about why they are so aggressive about getting to a power plant. There is a long pre- run time for deployment and some things are not even defined yet from a regulatory and/or community perspective.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYuNZj4H0fY

Building the world's largest quartz tube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwKMj-um0-w

Helion's fusion fuel and byproducts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc_Ywayz-C8

There are a couple more new Youtube videos in their channel that you might want to check out, but one seems to be mostly aiming at recruiting and there is a basic fusion 101 video.

Capacitors ready to go
https://x.com/Helion_Energy/status/1853482342276538821
https://x.com/dekirtley/status/1852810227982438415

Switch assembly:
https://x.com/Helion_Energy/status/1861092701111714245

So Polaris is a bit delayed but coming along. Last I heard, they are still hoping to have assembly completed this year. Considering the scope of the project and the challenges they were facing (supply chain, COVID, etc), they are doing really well, I think.

[Skipjack]

New YouTube video on their theory for direct energy recovery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nHmqk1cI2E&t=5s

Interesting comment by David Kirtley:

A good question to ask is: How do we know the physics works?

We see it every day with FRCs – in fact, magnetic flux exclusion, which is direct electricity recovery, is a key measurement we use to measure the pressure and energy in a thermonuclear FRC plasma. This was one thing that convinced me this technology was the one to pursue for commercialization.

This is why they have so much confidence in their energy recovery theory!

[Carl White]

Interesting tweet from David Kirtley:

Modern laser metrology tools continue to blow me away. It feels like we built our previous thermonuclear fusion machines with one hand tied behind our back. We track 0.001” deflections on a 100’ long machine - enough to see Polaris move with vault temperature.

https://x.com/dekirtley/status/1869093095293534238

[Skipjack]

Helion Polaris video showing construction and one of the first pulses they did.
2025 is gearing up to become an exciting year!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9clxjLKB-k

[mvanwink5]

Helion Polaris video showing construction and one of the first pulses they did.

I saw that video & at the end of it was what appeared to me a pulse, & it was my guess that it was a pulse operation of Polaris. So, it is your information based on this pulse that Polaris is now in operation?

[Skipjack]

Helion Polaris video showing construction and one of the first pulses they did.

I saw that video & at the end of it was what appeared to me a pulse, & it was my guess that it was a pulse operation of Polaris. So, it is your information based on this pulse that Polaris is now in operation?

I had it confirmed. So, Polaris is definitely operational and is doing pulses. However, it will still see upgrades and improvements over its lifetime. So, I would not expect net electricity quite yet.

[mvanwink5]

Polaris in operation in 2024 is a super milestone. Congratulations to Helion!

[crowberry]

It is very nice to see Polaris starting operation. Looking forward to more news and hopefully good results during 2025.

[mvanwink5]

So, I would not expect net electricity quite yet.

Thanks SJ. I would be ecstatic if it performed as expected, especially wrt the larger diameter needed for gyro radius.