Français

Blue Laser Fusion plans to commercialize nuclear fusion reactors using laser technology by 2030

462
2023-08-21 10:55:33
Voir la traduction

Recently, a start-up company co founded by Nobel laureate Hideyoshi Nakamura in San Francisco plans to commercialize nuclear fusion reactors using laser technology around 2030.

Hideyoshi Nakamura won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing blue light-emitting diodes. He founded Blue Laser Fusion in Palo Alto, California in November 2022. Partners include Hiroaki Ohta, former CEO of drone manufacturer ACSL Ltd. This startup company raised $25 million earlier and plans to collaborate with a subsidiary of Toshiba to build a small experimental reactor in Japan in 2024. Professor Nakamura of the University of California, Santa Barbara said: Japan excels in manufacturing, while the United States excels in business and marketing. They hope to combine the advantages of both countries to build nuclear fusion reactors.

Currently, the Blue Laser Fusion program is commercializing nuclear fusion reactors, which can generate 1 gigawatt of electricity, equivalent to the output power of a regular nuclear power reactor. The construction cost is approximately $3 billion. Nuclear fusion technology aims to replicate the processes that occur on the sun, generating a large amount of energy in a controlled manner. Unlike nuclear fission, fusion does not produce radioactive waste, making it a promising energy source not only for Earth but also for space missions.

In order to initiate fusion ignition, researchers had to heat the fuel to over one million degrees Celsius, and they used various methods to accomplish this feat. However, the main challenge lies in maintaining the reaction and generating more energy than is consumed during the fusion process. In seeking to maintain fusion reactions, nuclear scientists use two main methods. The first involves magnetic confinement, in which a powerful magnet is used to maintain the fuel in the plasma state within a torus or donut shape. This method led to the creation of the Tokamak reactor and sparked great interest and investment from companies and venture capitalists; The second method is to use a laser and emit it rapidly and continuously. However, the disadvantage of this method is that large equipment cannot emit laser in continuous mode, while small equipment cannot generate sufficiently high output to ignite fusion fuel.

This is where blue laser fusion believes it can bring about change.

Nakamura was awarded the Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking work in developing blue light-emitting diodes. He believes that his company can utilize his semiconductor expertise to create a safe path for achieving nuclear fusion and transforming it into commercially viable technology. Due to the fact that Blue Laser Fusion Company is currently applying for a patent, the specific details of this method have not yet been disclosed. However, Nakamura is confident in the feasibility of building a fast shooting laser and envisions building a one megawatt nuclear reactor in Japan or the United States by the end of this century. Before reaching this milestone, the company plans to build a small experimental factory in Japan by the end of next year.

In the months since its establishment, Blue Laser Fusion has submitted more than ten patent applications in the United States and other countries. The company is still researching using boron instead of deuterium as fuel for fusion reactors. The company claims that boron as a fuel does not produce harmful neutrons, making it a more favorable choice. Blue Laser Fusion also collaborates with other Japanese companies, such as Toshiba Energy Systems and Solutions, a manufacturer of nuclear power plant turbine mechanisms, and Tokyo YUKI Holdings, which provides metal processing services. In December 2022, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the United States successfully demonstrated the use of lasers to generate more energy from nuclear fusion processes. Nevertheless, this achievement is only temporary, and to make blue laser nuclear fusion commercially viable, they must demonstrate long-term sustainability.

Source: OFweek


Recommandations associées
  • The rare decay of the Higgs boson may point to physics beyond the standard model

    Particle physicists have detected for the first time a new decay of the Higgs boson, revealing subtle differences predicted by the standard model and potentially pointing to new physics beyond it. The research results are published in the journal Physical Review Letters.The theoretically predicted Higgs boson since the 1960s was finally discovered in the European CERN laboratory in 2012. As a quan...

    2024-01-26
    Voir la traduction
  • Teledyne Technologies acquires a portion of its optoelectronic business

    Recently, Teledyne Technologies announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire a portion of Excelitas Technologies' aerospace and defense electronics business for $710 million in cash.This acquisition includes the optical systems business under the Qioptiq brand headquartered in North Wales, UK, as well as the Advanced Electronic Systems (AES) business headquartered in the United States.It ...

    2024-11-12
    Voir la traduction
  • DustPhotonic is the first to develop an 800G silicon photonic chip

    Recently, DustPhotonics released a single chip 800G-DR8 silicon photonic chip for data center applications, which is an important milestone in practical photonics in data centers. The company claims that its single-chip solution provides high-performance and easy to implement solutions for system architects.DustPhotonics' 800G-DR8 photonic integrated circuit provides a single chip solution for fib...

    2023-10-13
    Voir la traduction
  • Northeastern University of Japan: Breakthrough Laser Technology for Nanoscale Laser Processing

    In the fields of optics and micro/nano processing, precise manipulation of lasers to meet the growing demand for miniaturization is an important challenge in driving the development of modern electronic and biomedical equipment. Recently, researchers from Tohoku University in Japan successfully demonstrated the use of interference technology to enhance the longitudinal electric field of radially p...

    2024-04-12
    Voir la traduction
  • The emergence of laser engraving glass technology injects exquisite and vivid artistic quality into glass works

    The emergence of laser inner glass carving technology has brought new forms and possibilities of artistic expression to glass art. It not only showcases advanced technology and innovative craftsmanship, but also endows glass works with unique artistry.Firstly, laser engraved glass can achieve very fine and complex carving effects. By penetrating the interior of glass with a laser beam for carving,...

    2023-09-15
    Voir la traduction