Part 1 of 2 Parts
For most people, the term “nuclear energy” conjures images of huge steaming cooling towers over massive buildings containing nuclear power reactors. However, two Seattle-based startups are developing nuclear technologies that one person could pick up and carry. They hope to produce power and propulsion for a new generation of spacecraft.
Seattle’s Avalanche Energy and Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation have received undisclosed funding from the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to support two different approaches to small-scale nuclear power.
Avalanche is working on a nuclear fusion system while Ultra Safe intends to revolutionize nuclear isotope batteries similar to those now being used to power Mars rovers. Both of these companies are expected to deliver functional prototypes to the Pentagon by 2027.
The DIU is the Pentagon’s outpost in Silicon Valley. It works exclusively with private sector companies to adapt emerging technologies for military use. U.S. Major Ryan Weed is the program manager for the DIU’s nuclear propulsion and power program. He said, “Nuclear is an interesting area because traditionally that's been mainly in the realm of government."
After sixty years of materials sciences research, nuclear fuels are relatively safe and are being embraced by the private sector. The climate crisis has also moved public opinion toward embracing nuclear power as a reliable replacement for fossil fuel power plants. Huge advances in computer modeling have made commercial development of nuclear power more feasible according to Chris Hansen who is a fusion researcher leading a lab at the University of Washington.
Washington state has a cozy relationship with nuclear research dating back to the World War II-era Hanford site. Hanford produced most of the plutonium for the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Hanford has fostered a “culture of nuclear expertise” in the state according to Scott Montgomery who is a lecturer at the University of Washington’s Jackson School of International Studies.
Today, Washington state is a hub for commercial nuclear startups. This is especially true for companies who are trying to develop small-scale nuclear fusion reactors. Nuclear fission generated energy by breaking down the atoms of heavy radioactive metals like uranium. Nuclear fusion, on the other hand, takes place when two smaller atomic nuclei collider to form bigger nuclei of a different element. A great deal of energy is also produced by fusion.
Avalanche co-founder Brian Riordan likes to visualize fusion as an attempt to stick together two Velcro-covered magnet balls. Riordan said, "The Velcro acts over a very short distance, but if you were able to get them close enough, and the Velcro was strong, they would stick."
It is very difficult to achieve fusion on Earth because, like the Velcro-covered magnets, the positively charged ions naturally repel each other. It is even harder to package such technology in a small container. For instance, more than thirty-five countries have spent years and billions of dollars to construct the Huge ITER Tokamak in southern France. The machine will not be in operation until 2025 and won’t be a commercially viable energy production system until at least 2035.
The greatest engineering challenge to the production of a fusion reactor is getting the machine to produce more energy than it consumes. Seattle-based Zap Energy claimed last week that it expects to have a working prototype by the end of 2022. In 2021, Helion Energy, based in Everett, Washington, announced that it would begin building the first commercial nuclear fusion reactor in Everett with an estimated completion date of 2028.
Please read Part 2 next