Small Tri Alpha news blurp

[baking]

They have been using "edge-biasing" NBI since C-2U in 2015.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAE_Technologies

https://tae.com/a-new-high-performance- ... jection-2/

[Skipjack]

Yes, they have been using NBI for a long time, but until very recently, not for startup.

[crowberry]

TAE Technologies has released this very interesting press release with a new plan on going from Norm directly to Da Vinci, skipping Copernicus: https://tae.com/tae-shortens-device-roa ... ercial-era.

[Skipjack]

Looks like they are updating Norm to (or at least close to) do what Copernicus was supposed to do.

[JoeStrout]

This seems like pretty exciting news. Am I falling for marketing hype, or is this as significant as it sounds?

[Munchausen]

This seems like pretty exciting news. Am I falling for marketing hype, or is this as significant as it sounds?

From what I have learned from this forum since 2007 I guess they now have a plausible idea of how to get the job done. The real work remains: To climb the order of magnitude ladder until the triple product have a relevant value.

[baking]

Silly question, but have they said how they plan to get the energy out?

[mvanwink5]

How does TAE Technologies plan to convert their fusion energy to electric power?

TAE Technologies plans to convert fusion energy to electricity using a conventional thermal cycle, similar to existing nuclear fission or fossil fuel power plants.In their hydrogen-boron (p-B11) fusion process, the reaction occurs in a high-temperature plasma, producing energetic charged particles (alpha particles) and significant bremsstrahlung radiation (high-energy X-rays). This radiation and any thermalized energy heat the walls of the plasma confinement vessel.A coolant system then circulates through pipes to absorb this heat, transferring it to a steam generator. The resulting steam drives a turbine connected to an electric generator, producing electricity.This approach is described in TAE's official FAQ for their future fusion power plant. Although p-B11 fusion is aneutronic (producing mostly charged particles rather than neutrons), allowing potential for direct energy conversion in theory, TAE's current public design emphasizes the practical thermal-to-steam method for power extraction.

Earlier concepts (e.g., patents and 2021 presentations) explored direct conversion methods like inverse cyclotron converters for alpha particles, but recent company materials focus on the thermal cycle.

[baking]

Thanks. It reminds me of the two most recent of Dennis Whyte's design classes, which both came up with large radiative L-mode tokamak designs, except that the walls only had to absorb 20% of the total energy, since the blanket got 80% from the neutrons. Anyway, I hope the NBI can take the heat.

[Skipjack]

If this table is correct then TAE might be aiming to use Norm for a "net energy gain" milestone next year.
I for one am skeptical of the validity of the article. It is still talking about Copernicus. It is possible that TAE might be upgrading Norm for those milestones next year, though and that the author got confused (or his info is just very... very... outdated).
https://businesscraft.se/business/helio ... g-by-2026/

[baking]

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/ ... -power-tae

[mvanwink5]

TAE Technologies, a premier global fusion power company, to merge with Trump Media & Technology Group to create one of the world’s first publicly traded fusion companies.

Join our joint investor call at 9 am ET today to learn more: https://viavid.webcasts.com/starthere.j ... b322f8bc79…

Read more: https://tae.com/trump-media-and-technol ... hnologies/

Two key points, TAE becomes 50% of a publicly traded company (mid summer?) which means we could invest, second it could mean Govt support for non Tokamak Fusion industry gets priority over what has already improved (second part is street speculation). Permitting could be expedited also.

It comes to mind that the Boron-Proton goal for TAE might be put as a second goal with a primary goal of Tritium or Deuterium fusion to shorten time to commercialization. Given the energy hungry AI data center needs & TAE move to get cash surge I would not be surprised.

Highlights:
Transaction to create one of the world’s first publicly traded fusion companies. Deal to combine TMTG’s access to significant capital and TAE’s leading fusion technology. In 2026, the combined company plans to site and begin construction on the world’s first utility-scale fusion power plant (50 MWe), subject to required approvals. Additional fusion power plants are planned and expected to be 350 – 500 MWe. Fusion power plants are expected to provide economic, abundant, and dependable electricity that would help America win the A.I. revolution and maintain its global economic dominance.
TMTG’s balance sheet to accelerate the path to power. The transaction will combine the strength of TMTG’s strong balance sheet with TAE’s leading technologies. As part of the transaction, TMTG has agreed to provide up to $200 million of cash to TAE at signing and an additional $100 million is available upon initial filing of the Form S-4.
TAE’s next-generation fusion technology is poised for commercial application. After more than 25 years of research and development, TAE has significantly reduced fusion reactor size, cost and complexity. TAE has built and safely operated five fusion reactors and raised more than $1.3 billion in private capital to date from Google, Chevron Technology Ventures, Goldman Sachs, Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, NEA, the visionary family offices of Addison Fischer, the Samberg Family, Charles Schwab, and others.

[Skipjack]

I am not sure what to think of this. It has been clear for a while that TAE has had trouble raising more money after decades and 1.3 billion spent.
In the near term, this may be a good thing for them. I hope that the funds they receive will be enough for them to upgrade Norm.
It also may be a sign that their previous investors have lost confidence and want a way out.
IMHO, if the upgraded Norm does not achieve at least demonstrate Qsci > 1 for D-T, it is pretty much over for them.

[mvanwink5]

It is unclear to me that anyone has the perfect **commercial** Fusion generator approach.

Helion, for instance, has the best back end solution as their machine directly converts fusion power to electric power. Yet, they need Gigawatt pulses of electric power to run their pulse machine.

TAE does not use massive power pulses to produce B field pulses like Helion as their machine is steady state operation. Instead, they accomplish stability with continuous NBI. Capital cost per machine therefore is lower (their latest breakthrough)). However, (at this point) they need higher capital cost on the Fusion generator power conversion back end (works for retrofitting existing fossil plants). They do have the possibility of direct conversion development. TAE also has simple, safe, easily stored fuel, B-P (future, but tough, possibility).

Zap on the other hand has even lower capital cost if they can get it to work, but they are stuck with Fusion power conversion by heat to electric back end.

General Fusion has only one advantage, low tech compression via mechanical pistons.

Good luck to all.

[Skipjack]

It is unclear to me that anyone has the perfect **commercial** Fusion generator approach.

Helion, for instance, has the best back end solution as their machine directly converts fusion power to electric power. Yet, they need Gigawatt pulses of electric power to run their pulse machine.

TAE does not use massive power pulses to produce B field pulses like Helion as their machine is steady state operation. Instead, they accomplish stability with continuous NBI. Capital cost per machine therefore is lower (their latest breakthrough)). However, (at this point) they need higher capital cost on the Fusion generator power conversion back end (works for retrofitting existing fossil plants). They do have the possibility of direct conversion development. TAE also has simple, safe, easily stored fuel, B-P (future, but tough, possibility).

Zap on the other hand has even lower capital cost if they can get it to work, but they are stuck with Fusion power conversion by heat to electric back end.

General Fusion has only one advantage, low tech compression via mechanical pistons.

Good luck to all.

While their latest design iteration is a massive improvement over the previous ones, I am not sure that the overnight capital for TAE will be lower than for Helion. Looking at their NRC presentation, their power plants will be significantly larger (in terms of area) than Helion's. Also, those NBIs cost a lot of money and they are not that easy to get either. For commercialization, they would have to produce them in- house like Helion does with many of their components. That is not a deal- breaker (obviously), but it is something that they have not even started to build yet.

Zap has been a bit of a disappointment to me. They have missed all of their deadlines for the past 3 years despite decent funding. Also, their machines have gotten more complicated and less efficient. I may be wrong, but at least from what they have been publishing, their scaling laws are not holding now.