An Innovative Nuclear Fusion Technology That Does Not Use Radioactive Materials and is estimated to “provide energy for the planet for over 100,000 years,” has been successfully tested by a team of American and Japanese researchers.
TAE Technologies, based in California, USA, has collaborated with the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS) in Japan to complete the first experiments on the hydrogen-boron fuel cycle in magnetically confined plasma. This new nuclear fusion technology could generate cleaner energy at a lower cost while producing minimal nuclear waste or greenhouse gases during the energy generation process.
Essentially, dozens of research teams around the world are competing to commercialize nuclear fusion energy production. The prevailing trend remains the nuclear fusion reaction using hydrogen and tritium. However, tritium is a radioactive isotope that poses risks, and it is extremely rare and expensive.
Therefore, TAE Technologies is researching the development of hydrogen-boron fusion power technology, using boron, an element that is abundant on Earth and safer, as an alternative to hydrogen-tritium fusion power. In 2021, the company announced its partnership with NIFS and began experiments on hydrogen-boron fusion using the Large Helical Device (LHD) of NIFS.
TAE’s FRC reactor.
This time, the research team utilized a magnetic confinement method using magnetic fields to contain the plasma. Reports indicate that they have completed the first hydrogen-boron fusion experiment in history. The hydrogen-boron fusion releases helium nuclei, also known as alpha particles, as a byproduct. The team used this to confirm the emission of alpha particles associated with nuclear fusion reactions using specially designed detectors.
“This experiment provides us with a wealth of data and shows that hydrogen-boron has a place in the field of fusion energy at a utility scale,” said Michl Binderbauer, CEO of TAE Technologies. “We know we can tackle a current physics challenge and provide a new form of carbon-free energy for the world based on this abundant and non-radioactive fuel.”
A spokesperson for NIFS, which established the partnership with TAE in 2021, added, “Hydrogen-boron… allows for the concept of a cleaner fusion reactor to exist. This achievement is the first significant step toward realizing fusion reactors using advanced fusion fuel.”
The research team from Japan and the USA behind this technological achievement.
Many fusion power companies currently utilize Tokamak, a device that employs extremely strong magnetic fields to contain hot plasma in a toroidal shape. However, TAE Technologies uses a Field-Reversed Configuration (FRC) reactor controlled by advanced and flexible accelerator beam technology. This allows the fuel used to extend beyond just hydrogen-tritium to also include hydrogen-boron. Moreover, the FRC requires a smaller footprint compared to Tokamak and can generate energy up to 100 times more efficiently.
TAE Technologies hopes that the results of this research will allow for the licensing of this technology, with the ultimate goal of utilizing the first hydrogen-boron fusion reactors that can provide electricity in the 2030s.
The company also emphasizes that it has built five “national laboratory-scale” devices and is constructing two additional machines named Copernicus and Da Vinci, aiming to “demonstrate net energy and the ability to supply power to the grid, respectively.”
