Well, sure, I guess, compared to the $14-billion they're going to blow on ITER, a mere $37-million sounds like chump change.
More specifically, General Fusion plans to make a metal sphere
reactor that spins a liquid mixture of lithium and lead to create a
vortex inside the sphere. Two spheromaks, or plasma rings kept together
by a self-contained magnetic field, are injected into the sphere to
create a target. At the same time, 220 pistons hit the outside surface
of the sphere to create a shock wave that hits the plasma, compresses
it, fuses the isotopes into helium, and releases energy-filled neutrons
captured by the liquid mixture. The energy is extracted from the liquid
with a heat exchanger to create steam to spin a power-generating
turbine and to continue to run the reactor.It sounds good on paper, but General Fusion has yet to develop 3-D
simulations or build a test reactor. If the company can raise another
$37 million, it hopes to have a prototype reactor ready in five years.
With $500 million more in funding, the company will have a grid-ready
reactor four years after that. These are a lot of "ifs", and we
probably won't know the fate of General Fusion for at least half a
decade.