Canon PowerShot S100
ƒ/2
5.2 mm
1/30
640

Major Kong rides the Canadian bomb.

The General Fusion reactor in British Columbia is veritable steam punk; they use the heat from the molten swirling lead core to power the steam pistons that slap it, sending an acoustic shock wave inward to the plasma ball at the core, compressing it to thermonuclear conditions.

In the moment, I recalled that the very first investment I personally made in a private company was $125 in Fiat Lux in 1995, a micro nuclear fusion company. (They also had high voltage arcing problems).

More photos below.

20 responses to “Steampunk Fusion”

  1. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Michel, the co-founder
    IMG_2443

    Pumping station for the molten lead (with lithium to absorb the neutron emissions, much like the NIF fusion reactor):
    IMG_2438

    IMG_2435

    I asked about the ceramic walls surrounding us as we walked around the reactor: "Oh, those are shrapnel-absorbing tiles"
    IMG_2431

    Side view of the plasma injector, from the prior days visit
    IMG_2427

    Plasma injector, in preparation for an explosive simulation in the field…
    IMG_2508

    The swirling lead chamber lies within the central core:
    IMG_2514

    Ghost in the mobile test machine…
    IMG_2509

    Diagrams from General Fusion:
    fusion_generator
    I’m glad they used a robot for scale…

    plasma_injector

    plasma

    Reply
  2. energy88 Avatar
    energy88

    please more simple explanations…

    Reply
  3. seatonsnet Avatar
    seatonsnet

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson] Gee Steve, this new format really, seriously sucks big time, you must know somebody important over at Yahoo (the boss maybe?). Please call them and tell them…. puhleeeze!

    Reply
  4. Dr DAD (Daniel A D'Auria MD) Avatar
    Dr DAD (Daniel A D’Auria MD)

    Great post. Of course this also demonstrates a new method for warming you buns!

    Reply
  5. aaardvaark Avatar
    aaardvaark

    What a great bit of gear! Better than most fictional sci-fi hit-tech. Do you invest in these things?

    Reply
  6. gsikich1 Avatar
    gsikich1

    Shades of Dr. Strangelove? Interesting shot.

    Reply
  7. Wind Watcher Avatar
    Wind Watcher

    Yes Strangelove indeed! Yahoo.

    Reply
  8. rass999 denis laframboise Avatar
    rass999 denis laframboise

    I wonder what Freud would say about this one:-). Very cool Steve. I love the background. If I may, I would love to do a PS work on that very high potential image.
    P.S. My wife Epp says that this is THE portrait of Steve.

    denis

    Reply
  9. scleroplex Avatar
    scleroplex

    great shirt yet again 🙂
    MIT just announced it is giving up fusion research. today.

    Reply
  10. energy88 Avatar
    energy88

    please explain in one or two words on what you are puting your ass….

    Reply
  11. angry shock Avatar
    angry shock

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/39581783@N08] And she is right on! This is THE portrait of Steve.

    It can’t get any Stever than this! <3

    (Fond memories -just brought back you comment, Denis- of those years with Eppie and Steve @ the eclectic thinkers group… where it all started. Life as we know it. (Life as I know it, at least!) |-)

    Reply
  12. Apollo 11 Avatar
    Apollo 11

    How efficient is it?

    Reply
  13. complex dog Avatar
    complex dog

    Great shot! You obviously know your classic films – Dr. Strangelove, or, How I Learned to Love the Bomb. A great movie by my favorite director (Stanley Kubrick). Going to reshoot with a cowboy hat? 🙂

    Reply
  14. Chucil Avatar
    Chucil

    Nice shirt color. It matches with the bench and the font.

    Reply
  15. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    thanks y’all. I told them that they need a cowboy hat rack there.

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/63656631@N04] and [http://www.flickr.com/photos/scleroplex] and I’m sporting the cufflinks made from Canon G9 camera dials. =)

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/39581783@N08] – yes, would be delighted to see what you can do with this… =)

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/37825533@N00] I am on one of the steam-powered pistons that I describe in the caption and you can see the the diagrams in the first comment. It is meant to raise the plasma core to 150 million °C.

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/apollo11] – not sure. They have not finished the build yet. Here are some of their estimates:

    "Each fusion pulse will result in approximately 100 MJ of net electrical output. Varying the cycle repetition rate will control the overall power plant output; if repeated once per second, the net output will be 100 MW. At this power output, a power plant would consume only 18 kg of deuterium and 60 kg of lithium per year."

    Reply
  16. seatonsnet Avatar
    seatonsnet

    This gets worse and worse… the page is disintegrating before my eye?

    Reply
  17. Chucil Avatar
    Chucil

    You might as well hide your sexiness under your shirt and pants no matter what mood you are in. Things get their happy endings when you talk.

    Reply
  18. scrybbler Avatar
    scrybbler

    Whoa! Was *not* expecting to see a face I recognize in this Flickr search.

    Working on making a book trailer for a little steampunk collection that I got published in. 🙂

    Hope all’s well out west,

    dave chang from the gsb mba lab

    Reply
  19. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    More photos from the tour (hidden by Flickr’s retrograde format changes):

    Michel, the co-founderIMG_2443Pumping station for the molten lead (with lithium to absorb the neutron emissions, much like the NIF fusion reactor):IMG_2438IMG_2435I asked about the ceramic walls surrounding us as we walked around the reactor: "Oh, those are shrapnel-absorbing tiles"IMG_2431Side view of the plasma injector, from the prior days visitIMG_2427Plasma injector, in preparation for an explosive simulation in the field…IMG_2508The swirling lead chamber lies within the central core:IMG_2514Ghost in the mobile test machine…IMG_2509Diagrams from General Fusion:fusion_generator
    I’m glad they used a robot for scale…plasma_injectorplasma

    Reply
  20. rdekleer Avatar
    rdekleer

    A new 2017 documentary featuring General Fusion has captured the exciting progress in fusion across the public and private sectors.

    Let There Be Light made its international premiere at the South By Southwest (SXSW) music and film festival in March 2017 to critical acclaim. The film was quickly purchased by Amazon Video, where it will be available for more than 70 million users to stream.

    Here’s the trailer:
    generalfusion.com/2017/07/fusion-film-let-there-be-light/

    Reply

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