What is Pacific Fusion's approach to fusion power?

Pacific Fusion is developing pulser-driven inertial confinement fusion, using electricity pulses to compress fuel pellets and release energy.

How is Pacific Fusion trying to reduce fusion power costs?

They are experimenting with pre-warming fuel pellets using magnetic field leakage, aiming to eliminate expensive startup components like lasers.

Where did Pacific Fusion conduct its recent experiments?

Pacific Fusion conducted its recent experiments at Sandia National Laboratory.

Home / Science / Fusion's Cost Riddle: Pacific Fusion's New Experiment

Fusion's Cost Riddle: Pacific Fusion's New Experiment

5 Feb

•

Summary

Pacific Fusion experiments aim to lower fusion power costs.
Company uses electricity pulses instead of lasers for fusion.
New method pre-warms fuel, potentially eliminating costly components.

Fusion's Cost Riddle: Pacific Fusion's New Experiment

The fundamental challenge of fusion power—ensuring reaction costs are lower than energy sale prices—is being tackled by Pacific Fusion. This company is pursuing pulser-driven inertial confinement fusion, compressing fuel pellets with powerful electricity pulses to achieve atomic fusion and release energy. Their experiments at Sandia National Laboratory have yielded promising results for simplifying the process.

Pacific Fusion's innovation involves allowing a controlled magnetic field to leak into the fuel pellet before the main compression pulse. This pre-warming reduces the need for separate, costly startup systems like lasers. The company believes this tweak, achieved by precise manufacturing of the fuel casing, can significantly cut the upfront expenses associated with building a commercial fusion power plant.

Disclaimer: This story has been auto-aggregated and auto-summarised by a computer program. This story has not been edited or created by the Feedzop team.