For every technology, there comes a tipping point where it switches from theory to possibility. Robin Langtry believes that Avalanche Energy has reached that point.
Avalanche recently operated its desktop fusion machine for hours on end while maintaining 300,000 volts, a figure the startup predicts will allow it to build a reactor capable of generating more energy than it consumes, the holy grail for any fusion company.
Where other fusion companies need powerful magnets to generate energy, Avalanche’s design uses intense electrical currents to draw fast-moving ions into tight orbits around an electrode. As the density and speed of the ions rises, they begin to collide and fuse, releasing energy in the process.
“Getting to really high voltages is the key thing,” Langtry, Avalanche’s co-founder and CEO, told TechCrunch. And given that the company is building small reactors — targeting anywhere from 5 kilowatts to several hundred kilowatts — the density of that voltage, 6 million volts per meter, is important. “That’s the real unlock for us,” he said.
With that sort of force, Avalanche expects it will be able to generate a large number of neutrons at low cost, which can be used to make radioisotopes and to evaluate materials for use in fusion reactors.
