Alex McColgan

speaker

29,301 appearances 104 recordings 1 series first heard Nov 2024 last heard 2d ago

Alex McColgan’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

Trend

recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 68 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 11.

Appearances

newest first · ▶ plays the moment

Astrum Space · What We Detected in the Strangest Quantum Experiments on Earth · 7 Sep 2026 podcast

Instead of generating an alpha particle and two protons, they make an alpha particle and a neutron. voice-verified

But like the proton-proton reaction chain, they still produce a ton of energy. voice-verified

Energy that we can use to generate electricity. voice-verified

Just one gram of deuterium tritium fuel holds energy equivalent to 2,400 gallons of oil. voice-verified

So if we've identified more reactive starting materials that give us plenty of energy out, what's the problem now? voice-verified

Well, it's not one problem, but problems. voice-verified

Let's start with those neutrons. voice-verified

Being lighter than alpha particles, they carry most of the energy of the fusion reaction and so have to be captured in order for their energy to be put to use. voice-verified

But controlling a subatomic particle with no charge is no mean feat. voice-verified

Neutrons aren't affected by the powerful magnetic fields containing the plasma, voice-verified

and so stream out of the reactor in all directions at 1 sixth the speed of light. voice-verified

To deal with this, most reactor designs utilize something called a blanket, a layer surrounding the reaction chamber that's designed to absorb high-energy neutrons and heat up. voice-verified

This heat can then be used to generate steam, drive a turbine, and generate electricity. voice-verified

But this approach is far from perfect. voice-verified

Neutrons aren't just absorbed by the blanket. voice-verified

They ping about everywhere, damaging everything they hit. voice-verified

This hugely limits the lifespan of many components, particularly the reactor walls. voice-verified

Another issue stems from the reactants themselves. voice-verified

While deuterium is relatively common, being easily extracted from seawater, and cheap at $13 a gram, tritium is neither. voice-verified

It has a half-life of just 12.3 years, and the only commercial source are Canada's 19 deuterium uranium nuclear reactors, which produce just half a kilogram of tritium a year as a waste product. voice-verified

Showing 1841–1860 of 29,301 · page 93 of 1466