Accelerating the transition to fusion energy

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Contents
FUSION FUELS
H.CHICHE M.ZHANG
Accelerating the transition to fusion energy

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Fusion research funding (United-States, 2018–2022)
Source: Crunchbase
Conventional fission
Source: University of Michigan
• Uranium supplies will last only 230 years at our current
consumption rate
• 2000MT per year of nuclear waste produced in the US
• 0 nuclear waste is recycled in the US
Spent nuclear fuel volume (United-States)
Fusion
• Deuterium Tritium fuel is the most efficient
• No tritium available on earth, it costs 30k$/g to produce
• Tritium demand 1kg/year/program (source: us renewable energy expert)
• 119 fusion devices built worldwide
• 3.5b$ tritium market (only for the research phase)
Nuclear waste
A RACE TO ACHIEVE COMMERCIAL NUCLEAR
FUSION

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Neutron source Fuel
Recycled lithium
Lead or Beryllium
• Tritium can be produced out of lithium and sources of lithium can supply us for thousands of years
• Current CANDU reactors can produce only 200g of tritium per year
• 5kg of tritium remaining by 2040 due to low tritium half life and slow production
Nuclear waste
Current Tritium production
Producing Tritium out of Lithium
ACCELERATING THE TRANSITION TO FUSION ENERGY WHILE REDUCING RADIOACTIVE WASTE
Li + n He + T
Tritium

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LEGAL
TECH
ECONOMICAL
NEXT STEPS
Accessing and handling nuclear waste material
• Team up with lawyers to assess Nuclear Regulatory Commission
guidelines
• Seek support from the government for a public-private contract
(source: renewable energy scientist Daniel M. Kammen)
• Simplify reactor prototype design: scalable, affordable, safe
• Assess performance and design with nuclear engineers
• Seek government funds (e.g. DHS innovation funding programs,
DOE, etc.)
• Partnerships with research facilities and nuclear fusion
startups

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THE TEAM
Hendrik CHICHE
hendrik_chiche@berkeley.edu
UC Berkeley MEng 2023
Product Design
Ex. ITER consultant
Megan ZHANG
zmeimei@berkeley.edu
UC Berkeley MEng 2023
Product Design
Ex. Thermal engineering