A new laser-driven technique for creating hydrogen-boron fusion may may be closer to realisation than other approaches, such as the deuterium-tritium fusion, according to an Australian researcher.
Professor Heinrich Hora from the University of NSW predicted in the 1970s that fusing hydrogen and boron might be possible without the need for thermal equilibrium.
This reaction produces no neutrons and, therefore, no radioactivity in its primary reaction. And the energy generated converts directly into electricity, unlike most other sources of power production, which rely on heating liquids like water to drive turbines.
The downside has always been that this needs much higher temperatures and densities – almost 3 billion degrees Celsius, or 200 times hotter than the core of the Sun.
However, Hora says hydrogen-boron fusion can be achieved using two powerful lasers in rapid bursts, which apply precise non-linear forces to compress the nuclei together. Advances in laser technology are close to making the two-laser approach feasible, and a spate of recent experiments around the world indicate that an ‘avalanche’ fusion reaction could be triggered in the trillionth-of-a-second blast from a petawatt-scale laser pulse, whose fleeting bursts pack a quadrillion watts of power.
If scientists could exploit this avalanche, he feels a breakthrough in proton-boron fusion was imminent.
“It is a most exciting thing to see these reactions confirmed in recent experiments and simulations,” said Hora.
“Not just because it proves some of my earlier theoretical work, but they have also measured the laser-initiated chain reaction to create one billion-fold higher energy output than predicted under thermal equilibrium conditions.”
He has described a roadmap for the development of hydrogen-boron fusion based on his design, bringing together recent breakthroughs and detailing what further research is needed to make the reactor a reality. An Australian spin-off company, HB11 Energy, holds the patents for Hora’s process.
“If the next few years of research don’t uncover any major engineering hurdles, we could have a prototype reactor within a decade,” said Warren McKenzie, managing director of HB11.
“From an engineering perspective, our approach will be a much simpler project because the fuels and waste are safe, the reactor won’t need a heat exchanger and steam turbine generator, and the lasers we need can be bought off the shelf.”
[Schematic of a hydrogen-boron fusion reactor. Image: UNSW]