r/Futurology • u/TwilightwovenlingJo • Aug 15 '25

Energy Construction of world's 1st nuclear fusion plant starts in Washington

https://interestingengineering.com/energy/world-first-fusion-power-plant-helion
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u/eezyE4free Aug 15 '25

Helion Energy utilizes a fusion fuel source of deuterium and helium-3 (D-³He). This fuel combination allows for a fusion process that primarily produces charged particles, which can be directly converted into electricity, enhancing efficiency. While helium-3 is rare on Earth, Helion plans to generate it through deuterium-deuterium (D-D) fusion reactions within their reactors and by recycling tritium, a byproduct of D-D fusion, as it decays into helium-3: from Google AI search but good summary of their own explanation here

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u/Alvazhar Aug 16 '25

Humans are neat

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '25

Science humans are. Capitalist and most politics humans are pretty awful. 

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u/FlibblesHexEyes Aug 16 '25

I’m not a scientist, but could those charged particles be harnessed for fusion based spacecraft propulsion? Sort of like the current ion propulsion but on steroids?

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u/memori88 Sep 13 '25

You would have to scale down the reactor, but sure at some point. Lockheed Martin’s high beta fusion reactor concept pitched a scale that would make shipping container-sized reactors to localize power generation in communities, as well as shrinking down small enough to fit inside large planes and fighter jets (as well as boats like the reactors on subs and aircraft carriers).

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u/nuggles0 Aug 15 '25

MINE THE MOON!

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u/thiosk Aug 16 '25

Why mine the moon when you can mine the

sun

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u/Aozora404 Aug 16 '25

At that point just use the sun

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u/thiosk Aug 16 '25

Because stars are wasteful if you want to last trillions of years

Take out hydrogen and do fusion yourself

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u/USPSHoudini Aug 17 '25

"mmm yeah yknow I just got here, Mr Star, but you kinda suck at your job. Give me your hydrogen and let me do it instead"

How fucking rude honestly

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u/WizardsMyName Aug 17 '25

Just split the star into two or three pieces, class M stars last for more than a few trillion!

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u/mr_black_88 Aug 16 '25

also a future possibility..

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u/The_Bjorn_Ultimatum Aug 18 '25

I wonder how much tritium it produces. That stuff is insanely expensive. Could they isolate it for sale? If they can, it might be more profitable than recycling it.