Direct energy conversion and the viability of aneutronic fuel cycles
Helion's Polaris targets D–He³ with magnetic induction recovery; TAE forms an FRC entirely from neutral beams en route to p–B11.
To bypass the severe neutron degradation associated with the standard Deuterium-Tritium (D-T) fuel cycle, several commercial entities are pursuing advanced, aneutronic fuels coupled with Direct Energy Conversion (DEC).
Helion Energy's Polaris device aims to utilize Deuterium-Helium-3 (D-He3) fuel, extracting electricity directly from the fusion reaction through magnetic induction rather than relying on a traditional thermal steam cycle. The architecture, if validated, would eliminate the balance-of-plant complexity that dominates the cost stack of conventional fusion designs.
TAE Technologies is optimizing its Field-Reversed Configuration (FRC) architecture to burn hydrogen-boron (p-B11) fuel. TAE recently achieved a breakthrough by forming an FRC plasma using entirely Neutral Beam Injection (NBI), eliminating legacy theta-pinch formation hardware and significantly reducing reactor complexity for its forthcoming Copernicus device.
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