First measurements of p11B fusion in a magnetically confined plasma

R. M. Magee (), K. Ogawa, T. Tajima, I. Allfrey, H. Gota, P. McCarroll, S. Ohdachi, M. Isobe, S. Kamio, V. Klumper, H. Nuga, M. Shoji, S. Ziaei, M. W. Binderbauer and M. Osakabe
Additional contact information
R. M. Magee: TAE Technologies, Inc.
K. Ogawa: National Institute for Fusion Science
T. Tajima: TAE Technologies, Inc.
I. Allfrey: TAE Technologies, Inc.
H. Gota: TAE Technologies, Inc.
P. McCarroll: TAE Technologies, Inc.
S. Ohdachi: National Institute for Fusion Science
M. Isobe: National Institute for Fusion Science
S. Kamio: TAE Technologies, Inc.
V. Klumper: TAE Technologies, Inc.
H. Nuga: National Institute for Fusion Science
M. Shoji: National Institute for Fusion Science
S. Ziaei: TAE Technologies, Inc.
M. W. Binderbauer: TAE Technologies, Inc.
M. Osakabe: National Institute for Fusion Science

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Proton-boron (p11B) fusion is an attractive potential energy source but technically challenging to implement. Developing techniques to realize its potential requires first developing the experimental capability to produce p11B fusion in the magnetically-confined, thermonuclear plasma environment. Here we report clear experimental measurements supported by simulation of p11B fusion with high-energy neutral beams and boron powder injection in a high-temperature fusion plasma (the Large Helical Device) that have resulted in diagnostically significant levels of alpha particle emission. The injection of boron powder into the plasma edge results in boron accumulation in the core. Three 2 MW, 160 kV hydrogen neutral beam injectors create a large population of well-confined, high -energy protons to react with the boron plasma. The fusion products, MeV alpha particles, are measured with a custom designed particle detector which gives a fusion rate in very good relative agreement with calculations of the global rate. This is the first such realization of p11B fusion in a magnetically confined plasma.

Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36655-1 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-36655-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36655-1

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().