First Light Fusion, a spin-out of University of Oxford, claims that it is able to attain nuclear fusion without exorbitant laser and complex optical equipment, as well as magnetic field.
The spin-out utilizes an air gun-like equipment that shoots out ultra-fast tungsten bullets onto targets embedded with deuterium fuels, where the shockwave from the impact would generate high temperature and significant level of pressure, and the instantaneous pressure would exceed air pressure by one billion times, which constitutes sufficient condition in forming a reaction of nuclear fusion. Scientists, on the other hand, were also able to precisely adjust the shockwave yielded by ultra-fast ejections through the number of cavities placed next to the fuel blocks.
The technology of First Light Fusion comes from pistol shrimps, which measure at merely 5cm, and would open and close their giant claws rapidly to release 96km/h of water flow that can stun or even kill their prey. The high-speed water flow is accompanied by cavitation, where it would take billionth of a second from the generation of ultra-small and low pressure bubbles to fragmentation, and the temperature produced during the fragmentation of bubbles is as high as the surface of temperature.
Aside from the inspiration of pistol shrimps, First Light Fusion also aimed and hit the target with a speed of 6.5km/h using the electromagnetic design of rail guns through a distinctively designed magnification effect, which generated approximately 1 TPa (terapascal). When the fuel block explodes, the speed would accelerate to 70km/h, with the final pressure reaching 100 TPa, while the thermal energy and neutron released by nuclear fusion would be absorbed by the 1 meter thick liquid lithium metal inside the reactor.
First Light pointed out that the pressure and temperature yielded when fuel blocks are suppressed from several centimeters to less than 100 micrometers are enough to trigger a nuclear fusion reaction, and the company hopes to build a 150MW nuclear fusion plant by 2030 with less than US$1 billion of cost. First Light aims to fulfill 2 years of power consumption for UK households that are equivalent of 6.2MWh.
However, the particular technology is still at the experiment phase. First Light believes that the advantage lies on its simpler and cheaper process. The company wishes to attain nuclear fusion reaction for the next step, and that the generated energy must exceed the total energy input in order to prove feasibility in power generation.
(Cover photo source: Fight Light Fusion)