Researchers have repeatedly shown that laser light impinging on a hydrogen-filled capsule can ignite nuclear-fusion reactions that produce more energy than that delivered by the laser beams (See Viewpoint: Nuclear-Fusion Reaction Beats Breakeven). These demonstrations of so-called inertial-confinement fusion by the National Ignition Facility (NIF) have inspired a number of followers. Start-up companies in the US, Europe, and Asia are exploring power-plant designs that might one day deliver electrons to the grid. One of these companies, First Light Fusion in Oxford, UK, has a radical idea: inertial-confinement fusion without lasers. The fusion-producing mechanism would instead be a bullet-like collision between a coin-shaped projectile and a specially packaged hydrogen-filled capsule. The First Light team has recently recorded fusion reactions with their setup, and they are now constructing a demonstrator that they hope will show a self-sustaining burn, or “ignition,” by the end of the decade.
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