Gas Gun Fusion

Reflections on fusion history, current events, and predictions for the 'fusion powered future.
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Emma Black
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Real name: Emma Black

Gas Gun Fusion

Post by Emma Black »

So this is a local one for me, the company First Light Fusion are using the seemly mad concept of accelerating a projectile into a target using a gas gun. It's received a ton of hype and investment.

It seems highly unlikely to be practical, to me at least. The papers however are interesting and a lot more detailed than I would have expected, suggesting that indeed a tiny handful of neutrons have been produced.

Keen to get others takes.

White paper is here (too large to attach) and the review by the atomic energy agency attached:
https://firstlightfusion.com/assets/upl ... _paper.pdf
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Liam David
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Real name: Liam David
Location: Arizona

Re: Gas Gun Fusion

Post by Liam David »

I'm highly skeptical of their claimed neutron detection. There are just too many issues with their methodology, such as the inability to discriminate neutrons/gammas and inconsistent claims about sources of noise. I found this white paper earlier this year and put some of my concerns in the pdf comments, so I won't repeat them here but link the paper: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aCM0In ... sp=sharing. I added and updated several comments today after finding some more problematic bits. My guess is that their funders demanded some positive results else they lose support. The little of the UKAEA report I've read includes several of my concerns, although they are cautiously in the affirmative that neutrons have been detected. Regardless, due to the experimental methodology and questionable data analysis, I do not think that such a paper should pass peer review. A publishable derivative would require many, many changes.

Regarding the concept in general, I think it's mostly a dead end. I do not see any way that a gas gun system can achieve the relevant repetition or parameter scaling to make it useful for energy production. Perhaps there are some uses for studying high-energy shocks. It's essentially a worse NIF in that it needs two precise objects--the target and the projectile--instead of one. It also makes more of a mess, lacks the precision of lasers, and my guess is that the gel absorbs the vast majority of the energy rather than the fuel bubble.
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Richard Hull
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Re: Gas Gun Fusion

Post by Richard Hull »

A 21 gun salute to non-performance deep into almost no statistically viable sample coupled with an attempt at boast of single or double detection events. Wow! I have seen this idea presented for a year or two now. Not worth the time it takes to investigate it further.

Lots of polish and preparation coupled with even some decent investment will not boost this petard into significant recognition.

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
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