Fusion startup Inertia Enterprises has made a groundbreaking breakthrough in the production of its fusion fuel pellets. By significantly reducing the time it takes to make these pellets, the company has overcome one of the 10 major hurdles it needs to clear to achieve the first phase of its commercial power plant ambitions.

The process of making fuel pellets at Inertia’s facility is now a fraction of the time it took at the National Ignition Facility (NIF), where it can take up to a week or more to produce a single pellet. At the NIF, the fuel pellets are made by painstakingly layering a spherical diamond shell around a thin layer of frozen deuterium and tritium, the isotopes of hydrogen that can fuel a fusion reactor. Inside the crystalline layer lies a mix of gaseous deuterium and tritium.

Each solid layer of the fuel pellet must be as close to perfectly spherical as possible. This is a critical requirement, as small imperfections in the shape of the pellet can disrupt the ignition process and prevent a fusion reaction from reaching its full potential.

Inertia’s team, led by co-founder and CEO Jeff Lawson, has worked tirelessly to condense the process of making fuel pellets to make it commercially viable. Lawson explained that the team’s goal was to turn prototypes into something that could be mass-manufactured. To achieve this, they hired industrial engineers from companies like Apple, who brought their expertise in manufacturing and scaling up production.

The process of making a fuel pellet at Inertia’s facility now takes around two to three hours, compared to the several days or even weeks it took at the NIF. This significant reduction in production time has several benefits. Firstly, it reduces the amount of tritium that Inertia needs to hold at any given time. Tritium is radioactive and expensive, with a global stockpile of only about 25 kilograms, according to the journal Science.

By reducing the manufacturing time, Inertia also keeps its inventory of tritium small. This is crucial, as the company plans to make its own tritium using the fusion reactions. Inertia expects its full-scale commercial power plant to use 10 fuel pellets every second, making the reduction in production time a significant advantage.

Lawson emphasized the importance of reducing the latency of the fuel pellet manufacturing process. By doing so, Inertia has made its facility smaller and more efficient. The company’s strategy is to oversize its laser driver, giving it a lot of margin to play with in other parts of the system. This approach has paid off, as Inertia has been able to tolerate more imperfections in the fuel pellet and still achieve the desired results.

Inertia’s breakthrough is a significant step forward in the development of commercial fusion power plants. The company’s partnership with the Lawrence Livermore National Lab has been instrumental in its success. By working together, Inertia and the lab have been able to develop a process that can be scaled up to meet the demands of a commercial power plant.

The future of fusion power looks brighter than ever, thanks to Inertia’s innovation. As the company continues to push the boundaries of what is possible, it is likely that we will see even more exciting developments in the field of fusion energy.