Re: [EVDL] Helion Energy: fusion power

[Peter VanDerWal via EV]

My EV is powered by a fusion reactor.  

However, my reactor produces a LOT of radiation so I prefer to keep a safe 
distance, roughly 92 million miles away.


My PGP public key: https://vanderwal.us/evdl_pgp.key

November 5, 2021 7:43 AM, "Peri Hartman via EV"  wrote:

> Somewhat off topic, but EVs do need electricity and, if this is really 
> going somewhere it could help immensely. The fact that there are some 
> big names investing half a billion dollars seems to add credibility.
> 
>
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[EVDL] Helion Energy: fusion power

[Peri Hartman via EV]

Somewhat off topic, but EVs do need electricity and, if this is really 
going somewhere it could help immensely. The fact that there are some 
big names investing half a billion dollars seems to add credibility.


Peri

--

Everett startup raises $500 million for zero-carbon fusion energy 
generatorhttps://www.seattletimes.com/business/everett-clean-energy-startup-raises-500-million-for-zero-carbon-fusion-energy-generator/


By Akash Pasricha
Seattle Times business reporter

Helion Energy, a clean energy company aiming to commercialize “fusion 
energy” technology it says will be able to produce zero-carbon 
electricity, raised $500 million in a private fundraising round.


The funding, which was announced Friday, will go toward building a new 
prototype of its fusion generator in Everett, where the company is 
based, and manufacturing many of the expensive components it needs to 
make the generator work.


“[T]he magnitude of this funding and the vote of confidence that we got 
from a lot of smart people … lets us go off and focus so that we can get 
that electricity as soon as possible,” said David Kirtley, CEO of 
Helion.


The financing was led by Sam Altman, former president of Silicon 
Valley’s most renowned accelerator, Y Combinator. Altman is Helion’s 
executive chairman. In an interview, Altman said it was the biggest 
investment he had ever made.


Dustin Moskowitz, who co-founded Facebook (now Meta), and Mithril 
Capital, founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, also participated in the 
financing.


“My general philosophy on hard-tech investing is that you start with 
small investments,” Altman said. “But then once the technology works and 
once there is a plan to … make it work better at scale, then you put in 
a lot of money.”


Helion’s last financing in 2020 raised $40 million. In June, Helion said 
it had become the first private company to create the extraordinarily 
high temperatures in a chamber ― more than 100 million degrees Celsius ― 
necessary for fusion to occur.


With this new cash infusion, Kirtley said the company will have enough 
to build the first fusion generator by 2024 that outputs more 
electricity than it inputs. If it succeeds in hitting that target, the 
company will have the opportunity to secure an additional $1.7 billion 
from investors to begin building fusion generators for commercial use.


Fusion energy is created when two atoms are fused together at 
temperatures higher than 100 million degrees Celsius, releasing energy 
that can then be converted into electricity. Fusion is not to be 
mistaken with “fission,” which splits atoms and produces power using a 
nuclear reactor. Unlike fission, fusion does not produce any long-lived, 
dangerous radioactive byproducts, according to the company.


At a ceremony in July to break ground on the site where its fusion 
generator will be built, Helion also said it would be building the 
capability to produce a novel form of helium necessary for fusion to 
occur. At the ceremony, Kirtley said that commercial production of this 
specialized helium, called Helium-3, has not been done before on Earth. 
(Helium-3 is exceedingly rare on Earth, and is more abundant on the 
moon).


Helion is not the only Washington company to play in the fusion space. 
Zap Energy and CTFusion are also active with fusion technology that was 
born out of research at the University of Washington.


Akash Pasricha: apasri...@seattletimes.com; on Twitter: @AkashPasricha.

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