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Nuclear fusion using helium-3 has long been viewed as a desirable future energy source. The fusion of two of its atoms would be aneutronic , not release the dangerous radiation of traditional fusion or require much higher temperatures. [ 3 ]
The Sun is a main-sequence star, and, as such, generates its energy by nuclear fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium. In its core, the Sun fuses 620 million metric tons of hydrogen and makes 616 million metric tons of helium each second. The fusion of lighter elements in stars releases energy and the mass that always accompanies it.
Helium-3 propulsion would use the fusion of helium-3 atoms as a power source. Helium-3, an isotope of helium with two protons and one neutron, could be fused with deuterium in a reactor. The resulting energy release could expel propellant out the back of the spacecraft. Helium-3 is proposed as a power source for spacecraft mainly because of its ...
By fusing together plasma of two light nuclei (in this example, two atoms of the hydrogen isotope deuterium), the strong nuclear force binds together these isotopes into Helium-3 and releases ...
Helium 3’s main advantage as a fusion fuel is that it creates little or no radioactive byproducts and thus a reactor using it is easier to maintain. The disadvantage is that it takes a higher ...
Nuclear fusion occurs when two atoms of a light element such as hydrogen are heated and fused together to form a heavier element such as helium. In order for that process to occur, the atoms must ...
In 2022, Helion Energy claimed that their 7th fusion prototype (Polaris; fully funded and under construction as of September 2022) will demonstrate "net electricity from fusion", and will demonstrate "helium-3 production through deuterium–deuterium fusion" by means of a "patented high-efficiency closed-fuel cycle". [23]
Nuclear fusion reaction of two helium-4 nuclei produces beryllium-8, which is highly unstable, and decays back into smaller nuclei with a half-life of 8.19 × 10 −17 s, unless within that time a third alpha particle fuses with the beryllium-8 nucleus [3] to produce an excited resonance state of carbon-12, [4] called the Hoyle state, which ...