Austin-based company attempts to design fusion power plant in Texas
AUSTIN (KXAN) - The path to clean energy is becoming clear in Texas. Austin-based Focused Energy was one of eight companies to receive a $46 million grant from the Department of Energy. The grant is part of President Biden's plan to have a fusion powered electricity plant within a decade.
"Our ultimate goal is to produce electrical power with just tap water," said Charlie Jarrott, a senior scientist with Focused Energy.
Jarrott said that fusion power is created when two atoms are forced to merge under intense heat and pressure, something that happens on our own sun. But doing this on Earth is challenging.
"The universe doesn't want us doing fusion, the ability to confine something for just long enough to allow it to happen has proven to be one of the greatest challenges over the past 100 years or so."
Bringing fusion power to the masses
The DOE selected eight companies to receive the money. Each has 18 months to design a power plant that uses fusion power. If they are successful, they will then get more money.
"The DoE is leveraging the speed and flexibility of private industry to really advance fusion energy," said Andrea Hannasch, an experimental scientist with Focused Energy.
According to Hannasch, the program is similar to one used by NASA. That program was to design a space capsule and ended with the current partnership with Space X.
"The goal is a fusion pilot plant, so an actual plant that's putting energy on the grid via fusion." Hannasch said.
How does fusion power work?
To fuse two atoms, you need intense heat and pressure. In December of 2022, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory were able to fuse two atoms. The key part of that discovery is that the fusion released more energy than was needed to cause the fusion. More power was released than was put in.
Jarrott said that they plan to use a similar method as the Lawrence Livermore lab, but will take a slightly different approach.
The initial experiment used massive lasers, each of which was three football fields in length, to apply the heat and pressure. "We use a bunch of extremely intense lasers and we shine them at a pellet of frozen hydrogen," said Jarrott.
Focused Energy plans to use two different sets of lasers. One focused on applying pressure and the other focused on applying heat.
"The temperatures required are on the order of 50 million degrees," said Jarrott.
If the fuel successfully ignites, the energy released will "end up hitting a thing to boil water and spin a turbine just like any other energy producing facility."
We also won't need anything special for fuel. The elements used in fusion are found in water. Water can produce energy fifty times greater than fossil fuels, Jarrott said.
Unlike nuclear fission, which is when atoms are split then release energy and radiation, there is no negative byproducts of fusion. When the atoms are fused, they release energy and harmless helium.
Other companies selected by the DOE use lasers and magnets to create fusion.