Q&A - Helion Energy, NIF, Space and more on HackerTube: recommended by 2 Hacker News commenters across 2 separate months, 2023.
lecture · advanced · dated
A roughly three-hour technical livestream Q&A on Helion Energy's fusion approach and the National Ignition Facility. It covers neutron production, shielding, energy recovery, diagnostics and why tokamaks might fare better.
HN commenters cite it as a detailed critical counterpoint to Helion's claims, for those who want more than the hype.
“explains that 95% recovery efficiency is not the whole story”
4 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
Additional resources for people who want to read or watch more on the subject: ▶ this video [link] /u/ValAslanyan is Improbable Matter and he gets into some interesting debates about Helion [link] [link]
in “Nucor and Helion to Develop 500 MW Fusion Power Plant by 2030” · View on HN
The new video by the same guy who created the original criticism ▶ this video starting from 2:03:00 explains that 95% recovery efficiency is not the whole story.
in “When Will Fusion Energy Light Our Homes?” · View on HN
The Q&A mentioned is likely this [0]. Do you have any hints which section would cover the upsides? [0] ▶ this video
in “Helion’s fusion power purchase agreement with Microsoft” · View on HN
The new video by the same guy ▶ this video from 32 min describes how Helion will get a lot of D+T neutrons from the secondary reactions despite all their efforts. Even without that the neutron flux from D+D reaction by Helion own admission will be enough to do a lot of damage within days of operation based on experience with slower fission neutrons.
in “When Will Fusion Energy Light Our Homes?” · View on HN