Nuclear Fusion
The process where two light atoms combine to make a heavier one, such as turning hydrogen into helium, which is what powers the sun. Nuclear fission is the opposite, with present-day nuclear plants breaking apart heavy uranium atoms. Compared to fossil fuels, fusion and fission release about a million times more energy per reaction.
History
There is an excellent documentary and a very readable account of what has happened over the last 100 years. Recent activity is summarized by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and startup companies are tracked by the Fusion Industry Association.
An overview of the fusion concepts that have been proposed and studied:
The dotted lines link a few concepts to closely related approaches that have successfully demonstrated high fusion output.
The goal of Project Elpis is to significantly enhance the performance of the dense plasma focus.
The Dense Plasma Focus (DPF)
Invented in the 1950s, it is a remarkably simple device that consists of two concentric electrodes and a pulsed electricity system (think lightning).
Compact and versatile, it generates fusion over a wide range of input energies, from 1 Joule (1 mm long electrodes) to 1 million Joules (50 cm), which gives considerable design freedom.
image: LLNL
Ideas Old and New
A number of fusion concepts rely on the pinch effect, including the DPF and the tokamak, where the latter holds the record for energy generation.
Tokamaks use several additional physics strategies and large external systems to increase output, and Project Elpis will apply some of these approaches to the DPF for the first time.
The small size allows a fast iteration cycle for design, manufacturing, and experimentation, and some technical solutions will be transferrable to other fusion schemes.
Micro Nuclear
Building from a DPF makes small-scale electricity generation possible, similar to the recent wave of microreactor designs for fission. The objective for the conceptual design was to fit inside a shipping container — almost made it.
Can be scaled up via large numbers of mass-produced units, like wind and solar. Modularity is a key to success in large projects.
Research and Development Program
After 2 years establishing the laboratory, the following 5 have three physics and engineering activities running in parallel (bold lines), with everything coming together during commercialization of the energy module proof-of-concept.
Project Elpis acts as the design lead and system integrator, but relies on many strategic partners from industry and research.
The neutron facility for materials and fuel breeding tests is a for-profit spin-off company from the FRO.
The 12 year timeline is benchmarked against the Westinghouse eVinci program (2018-2029) and the development of ASML EUV computer chip lithography (1998-2013, approximately), deep-tech devices of similar scale and with overlapping technologies.