Real Engineering
5 HN recommenders · recommended in 10 months, 2022–2025
30:48 · 8.4M views · Dec 17, 2022
Real Engineering's Brian McManus explains Helion's approach to nuclear fusion: colliding two plasma rings, compressing them magnetically, and capturing energy directly from the changing magnetic flux rather than boiling water. It covers why this pulsed design sidesteps problems of tokamaks and laser fusion.
It is the go-to accessible explainer whenever HN discusses Helion or alternative fusion designs.
16 comments from Hacker News
If you want to learn more about Helion, I recommend you watch this excellent video by Real Engineering this video
I'm far more excited by the innovative Helion fusion design, which unlike the NIF is intended for commercial use, and is in an advanced stage of development. NIF seems more like a way to conduct military related nuclear physiscs research rather than intended/suitable to ever be used for power generation. this video Helion seems far more practical than the Tomahawk designs such as ITER, which seem they'll be too expensive to compete with solar/wind.
Video regarding Helion that sama just posted: this video . Note that Helion says it can get D + D to work, which eliminates much of the OP's concern about tritium. The company is also hiring: [LINK] I do not personally have the ability or knowledge to independently evaluate claims, but the history of "it will never work" for something that does not outright violate the laws of physics as we understand them is notable too.
Regarding fusion - have you seen Helion’s approach? [0] It seems their approach removes many of the issues with Tokamak or Laser Pulsed fusion. It also reduces most of the feedstock issues with the two part fuel breeding approach. Their approach seems easier to be optimistic about. [0] this video
There's a fusion startup called Helion near Seattle working on this, it'll be really exciting if it pans out at scale. This video was a fascinating watch: this video