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Benson Aerospace (spin-off of SpaceDev; soon to test the Dream Chaser spaceplane) is commissioning a review of Dr. Robert W. Bussard's PolyWell nuclear fusion reactor design. If the review is favorable they will pursue funding to produce a 100MW prototype.
Dr. Bussard's process can use either a D-D (deuterium-deuterium) or a B11 (boron-11) fuel. B11 takes boron-11 and fuses a proton to it, producing a carbon-12 atom. This carbon-12 atom decays to beryllium-8 and helium-4. Beryllium-8 very quickly (10^-13 sec) decays into two more helium-4 atoms.
NO neutrons to contaminate the chamber walls like Tokamak and un-used ions recirculate for another shot at fusing
If PolyWell works it'll be much smaller, lighter, easier to build, cheaper to maintain and produce virtually no waste, unlike the multi-billion dollar ITER Tokamak reactor.
Being small and relatively light vs a Tokamak it could be used to power multi-VASIMR spacecraft on long missions, which Benson Aerospace is very interested in.
Dr. Bussard's process can use either a D-D (deuterium-deuterium) or a B11 (boron-11) fuel. B11 takes boron-11 and fuses a proton to it, producing a carbon-12 atom. This carbon-12 atom decays to beryllium-8 and helium-4. Beryllium-8 very quickly (10^-13 sec) decays into two more helium-4 atoms.
NO neutrons to contaminate the chamber walls like Tokamak and un-used ions recirculate for another shot at fusing
If PolyWell works it'll be much smaller, lighter, easier to build, cheaper to maintain and produce virtually no waste, unlike the multi-billion dollar ITER Tokamak reactor.
Being small and relatively light vs a Tokamak it could be used to power multi-VASIMR spacecraft on long missions, which Benson Aerospace is very interested in.