Ambition to harness energy from fusion reactions

The founders of Microsoft and Amazon have invested in several companies researching how to harness the energy of the same fusion reaction on the Sun.

Inside a laboratory near Vancouver in the province of British Columbia, Canada, the alarm rang loudly. In the middle of the warehouse was something that looked like a spacecraft's cannon, about 5 meters long connected to countless wires around.

None of the technicians wearing red uniforms seemed to be frightened by the noise because they were so used to it. This is a siren before each test of nuclear fusion reactor. In the past 5 years, they have heard this whistle more than 50,000 times.

That experimental speed is now 50 to 100 times a day - the number seems impossible to achieve in a public laboratory, where the most prominent research on fusion energy is underway. But that's what General Fusion, the tight-lipped company, is funded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

This is one of the venture capital companies who believe they can find a faster, cheaper fusion reaction than government projects in progress.

Many influential figures also believe this: besides Bezos, there are also Microsoft co-founders, Paul Allen and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel who also support pioneering companies in the study of fusion reactions.

According to the BBC, for many people the fusion reaction is still something far removed from reality, like apocalyptic hypotheses. However, business people consider this a very good opportunity.

"Spacecraft cannon" in the reactor at General Fusion.(Photo: General Fusion).

Fusion reaction

Nuclear fusion, or fusion reaction, is the process for nuclei to collide with each other to combine them. During this reaction, a small amount of nuclear mass will be transformed into a lot of energy. This is also a reaction mechanism on the Sun and H bombs, bombs with greater destructive power than atomic bombs many times.

If it is possible to harness the energy from this reaction, this will be an incredible source of energy. It does not require fossil fuels, and the waste to the environment is just helium, a harmless inert gas. Traditional nuclear reactions in current nuclear power plants all create dangerous radioactive waste.

The problem is, how to overcome the repulsive force between the nuclei so that they combine. Until now, scientists have been unable to find a way to produce energy from this reaction greater than the energy they put into it. Physicists and engineers have worked on this conundrum for decades, and during that time most people either forgot, or rejected it as a solution to the future. .

Currently, researchers have achieved certain achievements. Iter, the giant fusion reactor currently under construction in France, will give the theoretical capacity after completion to be 10 times the energy needed to operate. However, Iter's budget has exceeded the budget of billions of dollars and is slowing down. Experiments with reactors as early as 2025 can take place.

The approach of people like Bezos and Allen differs from Iter, prioritizing simplicity of technology over scientific certainty. But high risks also come with big profits: an economic fusion reactor, with its scalable design, will help investors make a lot of money, possibly even more valuable than those Technology boom in Silicon Valley with a long legacy.

This is probably what Bezos saw when he invested in General Fusion. Amazon's chief executive, known for investing in monumental projects, used his shares in the company as part of the $ 19.5 billion grant.

But whether Bezos's investment is successful or not is still a secret.

In addition to Bezos, General Fusion's most famous investor, there are a number of other companies supporting more than $ 81 million, such as Chrysalix clean energy joint venture company, oil giant Cenovus from Canada and Khazanah Nasional Berhad, a place of Malaysian government investment.

General Fusion fusion reactor.

General Fusion's idea was not new, it had been studied by the US Naval Laboratory in the 1970s. In early 2001, Michel Laberge, founder and scientific director of General Fusion gave up his boring job. bored at Creo laser printing company to face bigger challenges.

"I know that we have a bit of energy problems on this planet, and know that fusion is the solution," Laberge said. "So on my 40th birthday, I decided to quit my job and focus on fusion."

At Creo, Laberge learned how to apply his physical knowledge - a plasma physics doctor - to develop practical products.

"I became more specific and realistic," he said. He also saw how small companies were willing to follow their own path to avoid being defeated by big companies.

"If you do the same thing as they do, and they spend billions of dollars on it, you won't beat them. But if you do something a little different, you'll have a chance to succeed."

Laberge knows there are many different ways to create fusion reactions.

"All these different approaches are very little supported," he explained, because the mainstream methods "have swallowed up most of the resources". Targeted thermonuclear fusion is one of the alternatives he pursues.

With this method, the first magnetic field is used to keep the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium in the form of superheated plasma. Plasma will then be inserted into a sphere containing liquid metal. Next, the piston with the direction of convergence to the center of the sphere will simultaneously move and tap the anvil at the end of the cylinder, sending a shock wave to the plasma. This wave will compress the plasma block and deuterium-tritium fuel will react nuclear to each other, which in theory will generate a lot of energy.

The activity is described by video below:

What is important to investors is that the General Fusion reactor does not require super-powerful laser beams or facilities that are about the size of a football field, similar to government projects that Bezos, Laberge are looking for. how to pass.