Plasma quality is key for GF. The rest is engineering. Tri Alpha is also making milestones with 'plasma quality'.Milestone Results on the Pathway to Fusion
Nathan Gilliland, General Fusion CEO
During 2016 General Fusion hit several key milestones on its path to practical, commercial fusion energy. We recently shared this progress at conferences and meetings around the world (see article below). A key to reaching fusion conditions in nearly all approaches is centered on the quality of superheated hydrogen plasma. Our SPECTOR plasma injectors are producing stable plasmas with uncompressed temperatures consistently reaching nearly 5 million degrees Celsius, and lifetimes approaching 2 milliseconds. These are new benchmarks for this type of plasma in the fusion field. In particular, 2 millisecond plasma lifetimes mark a 10x improvement for General Fusion since 2013. Beyond this solid technological step forward, this quarter we’re also highlighting some new additions to our team, media coverage, and much more.
- Nathan Gilliland, CEO, General Fusion
I have seen no such reports on 'plasma quality' from Helion and as far as I can tell plasma quality is also key for Helion, after all, Helion is an FRC, pulse or not. Some take the position that Helion is just being secretive, but I have seen 'secretive' for special projects to mean no progress.
The good news it seems to me is that progress in any FRC project bodes well for all FRC projects. It means that spheromak plasma can be tamed.
The only milestone I want to hear from EMC2 is finance milestone.... No cash, no project.