Avalanche desktop reactor achieves blistering-hot plasma
▼ Summary
– Avalanche’s desktop-scale fusion prototype heated a plasma to roughly 11 million degrees Celsius, exceeding a key milestone for fusion energy.
– The startup spent less than $50 million in venture investment to achieve this, unlike most fusion companies that burned more cash.
– Plasma temperatures are measured in kiloelectron volts (kEV), and exceeding 1 keV is considered significant in the fusion field.
– The milestone suggests Avalanche is on a path to generate fusion reactions that produce more power than they consume, though it is not a guarantee of success.
– Avalanche’s small-scale prototype, with a five-inch fusion core, challenges the industry trend toward large reactors and could enable cheaper, smaller fusion power plants.
A desktop-sized fusion reactor has achieved a plasma temperature of roughly 11 million degrees Celsius, a milestone that places the startup among a select few to reach such extreme conditions. The feat, which Avalanche exclusively shared with TechCrunch, marks a critical step on the long road toward practical fusion energy.
No fusion reactor has yet generated net power, but physicists agree that reaching plasma temperatures above 10 million degrees Celsius,comparable to the core of the Sun,is one of the essential benchmarks. Avalanche’s prototype exceeded that threshold, heating its plasma to about 11 million degrees Celsius. Only a handful of companies have managed this accomplishment, and most burned through significantly more capital to get there. Avalanche says it spent less than $50 million in venture funding to hit the mark.
Plasma physicists don’t use a standard thermometer for such measurements. Instead, they rely on a metric called the kiloelectron volt, or keV, which reflects the energy of particles inside the plasma. The fusion community pays close attention when experiments surpass 1 keV. As Bob Mumgaard, CEO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, has put it, “That’s hot enough that the world will take notice.”
Temperature is one of the key variables in assessing a fusion experiment. If a plasma is too cool, its particles lack the energy to collide with enough force to fuse into new atoms. But when a plasma is sufficiently hot, dense, and contained for long enough, fusion reactions can occur, releasing substantial energy. Hitting this temperature milestone doesn’t guarantee success, but it signals that the startup is moving toward conditions where its reactor could generate more power than it consumes.
Avalanche’s approach is notable for its scale. While most fusion startups are building large reactors designed to produce dozens or hundreds of megawatts of electricity, Avalanche is betting on a smaller, more compact design. The company believes that a smaller fusion power plant could compete with technologies like diesel generators and natural gas turbines, opening up new applications beyond the grid.
The fusion core of Avalanche’s latest device, called Jyn, measures just five inches in diameter. That small size allows for rapid iteration. The company says it has updated the device 25 times since last fall. While Avalanche has not yet published its results in a peer-reviewed journal, it reports that the findings were validated by a plasma physicist at MIT.
(Source: TechCrunch)
