A Chinese Company Achieved a World-First Hydrogen-Boron Fusion Reaction on a Commercial Device
China's ENN Group says its EXL-50U device produced hydrogen-boron fusion reactions at over 100 million per second, a world first for a commercial fusion company using this cleaner, neutron-free fuel.
Chinese energy company ENN Group says its EXL-50U device has achieved hydrogen-boron fusion reactions at a rate exceeding 100 million per second — a world first for a commercial fusion company working with this fuel, according to South China Morning Post.
Fusion without the dangerous neutrons
Most fusion projects, including the international ITER reactor, fuse deuterium and tritium, which releases high-energy neutrons that make reactor materials radioactive over time. Hydrogen-boron fusion instead combines a hydrogen proton with a boron-11 nucleus, producing harmless helium nuclei and energy without that neutron byproduct.
A harder reaction to trigger
The tradeoff is that hydrogen-boron fusion needs far higher temperatures and tighter confinement than deuterium-tritium fusion. ENN's team combined high-energy neutral beam injection with radio-frequency waves to concentrate particles in conditions where the reaction becomes more likely, achieved on its compact spherical tokamak device.
A milestone, not a power plant
The September 28 announcement marks a reaction-rate milestone for a privately developed device, not a claim of net energy production or a working power plant. Still, demonstrating sustained hydrogen-boron reactions on commercial hardware is a step toward the long-term goal of cleaner, less radioactive fusion power.
Like what you're reading?
