Dr. James Conca covered AGNI for Forbes.
AGNI has the ability to remediate all radioactive waste made with fission models to include waste in storage.
AGNI can break down radioactive waste made in hospitals, commonly used for medical imaging and radiation therapy.
The AGNI system can break down these radioactive materials through remediation, or simply put, bombarding the waste in a remediation bay with our energized, fast neutrons. Since fusion produces such high energy neutrons, suddenly the process of breaking down the radioactive waste further to stable elements is viable. This can be likened to rocket fuel, where often a starter fuel is needed to reach the temperatures required to ignite this fuel. Fission reactions cannot achieve that energy, so the radioactive waste remains a toxic end product. Fusion with AGNI can break down these elements until they are safe and stable.
Breaking down waste would be an intermediate revenue generation goal that could help fund the full nuclear fusion system.
They will shoot a beam of fusing atoms onto a solid target. This will solve several physics problems and generating energy without generating a lot of neutrons.
There are many ways people are trying to get to nuclear fusion. Two of the main ways are:
– inertial confinement fusion aims to compress hot ions (plasma), heating them to conditions where fusion reactions are more likely. Specific approaches include – laser fusion, beam fusion, fast ignition, and magnetized target fusion.
– magnetic confinement fusion aims to contain a hot plasma in a device with immensely strong magnetic fields. Specific approaches include – tokamak, stellarator, z pinch, and reversed field pinch.
Each method has challenges:
– inertial confinement struggles with efficiency of reactions for the energy put in as the laser or ion beam require huge amounts of energy to be generated.
– magnetic confinement struggles with controlling and containing the plasma and keeping it stable long enough to sustain fusion.
AGNI Energy wants to combine the two main fusion methods for use in their device. AGNI focuses a beam of ions, which is half of the fuel, onto a solid target which is the other half of the fuel.
The AGNI fusion reactor uses both electric fields and magnetic fields, giving the nuclei a very short flight time before they hit the solid target, so the nuclei don’t need to be controlled very long before the fusion occurs.
The ion beam contains a mixture of deuterium and helium-3, deuterium being the dominant component of the beam. The target plate contains Lithium-6, Tritium, and Boron-11. Because of pre-target fusion, there are more final products interacting with the target plate then Deuterium and Helium-3. Deuterium—Helium-3 fusion produces protons that can then fuse with the Boron-11 to produce three Helium-4 ions.
AGNI fusion uses a series of five rings, capable of varying the degrees of freedom involving the electrostatic source diameter, the Z-axis position of each ring, and variable output of magnetic intensity and electrostatic intensity. The method of containment is focused around shaping beam dynamics towards convergence at the target plate, with the intent of the plasma generating a strong internal magnetic field as seen in kink oscillations to increase the likelihood of surpassing the coulomb barrier in the target plate materials, necessary to fuse.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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It looks like the company AGNI Energy Inc was founded on stolen technology, backed by shady anonymous rich corporate types, and have a very shady history. This is from one of at least THREE lawsuits they've been central to:
https://www.scribd.com/document/476698210/AGNI-Energy-Inc-IP-Theft-Conspiracy-Lawsuit-Amended-Answer-and-Counter-by-DeLeeuw-Document
It also looks like they have essentially sat on the technology without using it for years now.
What does it even mean for fusion to have [i]10 times the efficiency of fission[/i]? Efficiency is output/input. But fission has an input of uranium, or maybe plutonium. Which isn’t an input into fusion at all. This fusion uses deuterium and helium-3, Lithium-6, Tritium, and Boron-11. Are they comparing the mass of fuel needed per GWh? The cost? The number of atoms???
Will someone throw a billion dollars at his thing and get it going? Buffet could throw 10 billion at 10 different MSR and fusion technologies and get something built in less than 10 years. WIN big for him and WIN even bigger for humanity. What a legacy for himself saving humanity from global warming.
What does it even mean for fusion to have [i]10 times the efficiency of fission[/i]?Efficiency is output/input. But fission has an input of uranium or maybe plutonium. Which isn’t an input into fusion at all. This fusion uses deuterium and helium-3 Lithium-6 Tritium and Boron-11. Are they comparing the mass of fuel needed per GWh? The cost? The number of atoms???
Will someone throw a billion dollars at his thing and get it going? Buffet could throw 10 billion at 10 different MSR and fusion technologies and get something built in less than 10 years. WIN big for him and WIN even bigger for humanity. What a legacy for himself saving humanity from global warming.
Buffet’s holding company owns the BNSF railroad company, which moves the coal making ten percent of the US’s power. BNSF earns nearly twenty billion dollars a year, and would take a major hit if nuclear started replacing coal power. Buffet has invested in wind, purely, he says, because of the tax incentives and renewable energy mandates. Bill Gates has put money into Terra Power, which is developing a sodium cooled reactor, and also looking at a chloride molten salt fast reactor. Either of those has much lower hurdles to clear to get to a practical power source – both sodium and molten salt reactors have actually produced net energy.
Buffet’s holding company owns the BNSF railroad company which moves the coal making ten percent of the US’s power. BNSF earns nearly twenty billion dollars a year and would take a major hit if nuclear started replacing coal power. Buffet has invested in wind purely he says because of the tax incentives and renewable energy mandates.Bill Gates has put money into Terra Power which is developing a sodium cooled reactor and also looking at a chloride molten salt fast reactor. Either of those has much lower hurdles to clear to get to a practical power source – both sodium and molten salt reactors have actually produced net energy.
On an atomic mass basis I get about 3.5MeV/AMU for D-T and 0.85MeV/AMU of reactant for 235U, which gives 4x not 10x. Who knows what kind of fuzzy math they used to get 10x?
Generally agree. But without checking the source material, I think they want to split rather than transmute. Or maybe a combination of both: transmute to less stable nuclei, which would then split to smaller, more stable ones. At least, that’s my interpretation of “break down”. The key point is they want to use fast neutrons, which I think are less likely to be captured by the target nuclei.
According to Ian Scott of Moltex Energy spent nuclear fuel is only ‘waste’ because it is uneconomic to process it into mixed oxide (MOX) fuel consisting of a uranium and plutonium oxide ceramic. And this is expensive and difficult as the plutonium has to be 99.99% pure to form an oxide ceramic. If your reactor uses a liquid molten salt as fuel, as Moltex’s does, then the plutonium can be up to 50% other metals and still work fine, making reprocessed fuel cost the same or less than mined uranium fuel.
OK, basic physics: In order for you to transmute radioactive waste by neutron bombardment, and end up ahead of the game, your waste has to not be mixed with other elements/isotopes that would be rendered radioactive by the neutron bombardment. That means that medical waste is out. Most medical radioactive waste has a very low level of activity, most of the material present isn’t radioactive. But it would be after the neutron bombardment.
On an atomic mass basis I get about 3.5MeV/AMU for D-T and 0.85MeV/AMU of reactant for 235U which gives 4x not 10x. Who knows what kind of fuzzy math they used to get 10x?
Generally agree. But without checking the source material I think they want to split rather than transmute. Or maybe a combination of both: transmute to less stable nuclei which would then split to smaller more stable ones. At least that’s my interpretation of break down””. The key point is they want to use fast neutrons”””” which I think are less likely to be captured by the target nuclei.”””
According to Ian Scott of Moltex Energy spent nuclear fuel is only ‘waste’ because it is uneconomic to process it into mixed oxide (MOX) fuel consisting of a uranium and plutonium oxide ceramic. And this is expensive and difficult as the plutonium has to be 99.99{22800fc54956079738b58e74e4dcd846757aa319aad70fcf90c97a58f3119a12} pure to form an oxide ceramic.If your reactor uses a liquid molten salt as fuel as Moltex’s does then the plutonium can be up to 50{22800fc54956079738b58e74e4dcd846757aa319aad70fcf90c97a58f3119a12} other metals and still work fine making reprocessed fuel cost the same or less than mined uranium fuel.
OK basic physics: In order for you to transmute radioactive waste by neutron bombardment and end up ahead of the game your waste has to not be mixed with other elements/isotopes that would be rendered radioactive by the neutron bombardment.That means that medical waste is out. Most medical radioactive waste has a very low level of activity most of the material present isn’t radioactive.But it would be after the neutron bombardment.
I’m pretty sure I understand what a kink instability is but an oscillation isn’t essentially unstable and they are apparently counting on it being a stable oscillation. There is something called a “standing kink oscillation” or “standing kink mode” that sounds like the stable state they’re after. Anyone have a link to an introduction to kink oscillations? Just curious since a quick search doesn’t turn up much in this way.
I’m pretty sure I understand what a kink instability is but an oscillation isn’t essentially unstable and they are apparently counting on it being a stable oscillation. There is something called a standing kink oscillation”” or “”””standing kink mode”””” that sounds like the stable state they’re after. Anyone have a link to an introduction to kink oscillations? Just curious since a quick search doesn’t turn up much in this way.”””
You can see standing sausage modes in old fluorescent tubes, just before they die. They can be fairly stable, and I can see how they might be useful in fusion. But, kink modes? Seems unlikely, though I understand standing kink modes are seen in coronal loops, so they are a thing.
You can see standing sausage modes in old fluorescent tubes just before they die. They can be fairly stable and I can see how they might be useful in fusion.But kink modes? Seems unlikely though I understand standing kink modes are seen in coronal loops so they are a thing.
Pretty sure that the 10x is just marketing … as with many small fusion/fission projects, they spend a lot of effort looking for funding.
Pretty sure that the 10x is just marketing … as with many small fusion/fission projects they spend a lot of effort looking for funding.
Wut?
“The AGNI fusion reactor uses both electric fields and magnetic fields”
Wow, that explains it all! Because you know, no other fusion reactor does that.
“so the nuclei don’t need to be controlled very long before the fusion occurs”
Why does one need to “control” a nuclei in a free trajectory?
“Because of pre-target fusion”
So the beam is supposed to undergo fusion before hitting the target? How? Magic?
“degrees of freedom involving the electrostatic source diameter”
LOLZ.
“The method of containment is focused around shaping beam dynamics towards convergence at the target plate”
Oh gawd, THAT’S NOT CONTAINMENT.
Seriously, can no one else see this is just a bunch of technobable?
The gostak distims the doshes.
Pretty sure that the 10x is just marketing … as with many small fusion/fission projects, they spend a lot of effort looking for funding.
You can see standing sausage modes in old fluorescent tubes, just before they die. They can be fairly stable, and I can see how they might be useful in fusion.
But, kink modes? Seems unlikely, though I understand standing kink modes are seen in coronal loops, so they are a thing.
I’m pretty sure I understand what a kink instability is but an oscillation isn’t essentially unstable and they are apparently counting on it being a stable oscillation. There is something called a “standing kink oscillation” or “standing kink mode” that sounds like the stable state they’re after. Anyone have a link to an introduction to kink oscillations? Just curious since a quick search doesn’t turn up much in this way.
On an atomic mass basis I get about 3.5MeV/AMU for D-T and 0.85MeV/AMU of reactant for 235U, which gives 4x not 10x. Who knows what kind of fuzzy math they used to get 10x?
Generally agree. But without checking the source material, I think they want to split rather than transmute. Or maybe a combination of both: transmute to less stable nuclei, which would then split to smaller, more stable ones. At least, that’s my interpretation of “break down”. The key point is they want to use fast neutrons, which I think are less likely to be captured by the target nuclei.
According to Ian Scott of Moltex Energy spent nuclear fuel is only ‘waste’ because it is uneconomic to process it into mixed oxide (MOX) fuel consisting of a uranium and plutonium oxide ceramic. And this is expensive and difficult as the plutonium has to be 99.99% pure to form an oxide ceramic.
If your reactor uses a liquid molten salt as fuel, as Moltex’s does, then the plutonium can be up to 50% other metals and still work fine, making reprocessed fuel cost the same or less than mined uranium fuel.
OK, basic physics: In order for you to transmute radioactive waste by neutron bombardment, and end up ahead of the game, your waste has to not be mixed with other elements/isotopes that would be rendered radioactive by the neutron bombardment.
That means that medical waste is out. Most medical radioactive waste has a very low level of activity, most of the material present isn’t radioactive.
But it would be after the neutron bombardment.
Buffet’s holding company owns the BNSF railroad company, which moves the coal making ten percent of the US’s power. BNSF earns nearly twenty billion dollars a year, and would take a major hit if nuclear started replacing coal power. Buffet has invested in wind, purely, he says, because of the tax incentives and renewable energy mandates.
Bill Gates has put money into Terra Power, which is developing a sodium cooled reactor, and also looking at a chloride molten salt fast reactor. Either of those has much lower hurdles to clear to get to a practical power source – both sodium and molten salt reactors have actually produced net energy.
What does it even mean for fusion to have [i]10 times the efficiency of fission[/i]?
Efficiency is output/input. But fission has an input of uranium, or maybe plutonium. Which isn’t an input into fusion at all.
This fusion uses deuterium and helium-3, Lithium-6, Tritium, and Boron-11. Are they comparing the mass of fuel needed per GWh? The cost? The number of atoms???
Will someone throw a billion dollars at his thing and get it going? Buffet could throw 10 billion at 10 different MSR and fusion technologies and get something built in less than 10 years. WIN big for him and WIN even bigger for humanity. What a legacy for himself saving humanity from global warming.