David Kirtley is a nuclear fusion engineer and CEO of Helion Energy, a company working on building the world's first commercial fusion power plant by 2028.
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I retired from Helion Energy in 2021. I spent 35 years working as a technician on FRC machines. About half of that at the University of Washington. 2 of Helion’s founders came from the UW. I would like to give a shout out to some of the pioneers of FRC research. These are some of the scientists I worked with over the years. Alan Hoffman. John Slough. Richard Milroy. Ed Crawford. George Vlases. Bob Brooks. Adam Pietrzyk. The other 2 founders George Votroubek and Chris Pihl. It was a privilege to work alongside these men. I’m glad I retired when I did. They were going from R&D to manufacturing. I’m a R&D guy.
The fact that Helion is choosing speed of production over absolute precision is what will make them the leader in the field. The biggest hurdle of the years ahead is not how much is changing but how fast it’s changing. We need solutions delivered at the same pace.
Great episode. I’d just like to clarify that the historical photo showing water cannons, fire, and smoke around the 24-minute mark actually depicts the Cosmo Oil refinery fire in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, Japan - not the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The earthquake caused the supports of a spherical LPG tank to collapse, rupturing pipes and releasing gas that ignited. The blaze spread to nearby tanks, triggering multiple explosions and a massive fire that burned out of control for ten days. Unfortunately, this image is often misused by anti-nuclear activists to evoke fear and sow doubt about a safe, clean, and reliable energy source.
David makes me feel like I'm a PhD graduate in Nuclear Physics. So articulate and great communicator. Thanks Lex, as always skilfully holding space for your guests to unleash their world.
Lex once upon a time you had an amazing, non partisan podcast, where you would challenge and explore people’s ideas.
Let go of all the sociopaths and narcissists who have attached themselves to you for their own benefit. This includes many of your favourite people..
I'm currently in 9th grade, and discovered a video featuring Helion while in Science class on YouTube. XD Ever since that, I've been really intrigued and interested in nuclear fusion and fission. My dad listens to your podcasts, and I just happened to overhear him playing this, which is why I am now here, listening to this podcast. I usually don't listen to podcasts, but this has piqued my interest. Thank you, Lex. : >
Such an interesting episode! The idea of harnessing star energy for future electricity is mind-blowing. The graphics made everything so easy to understand & genuinely fun to watch. Another great show
It took me 3 days of commuting to enjoy this entire interview and I'm sad that it's over. I hope that his company and his people achieve a reset of expectations for mankind and our potential future.
Absolutely OUTSTANDING. Dr. Kirtley is obviously an amazing person. I've been following Helion since about 2018 and when I understood that they were trying to induce electric fields for transmission rather than steam I was like Eureka! Super exciting. I hope it works.
Helion’s FRC approach is probably the most innovative and effective approach to containing plasma & ultimately creation and distribution of abundance susceptible energy. David is an awesome leader…
Yaaaay! A conversation between two intelligent people who don't say "like" every fourth word, who don't say the same thing 3 times in a row and who don't talk over each other. Then there's the fascinating subject matter. And the graphics are cool but non-essential, so I can listen like and old-school radio broadcast. Nice work all round.
I'm a physics professor. I was so bored at the start and by the end I wanted to leave academia to go work at Helion. This guy's enthusiasm is contagious.
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See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc.
0:00 - Introduction
3:14 - Nuclear fission vs fusion
13:14 - Physics of E=mc^2
18:28 - Is nuclear fusion safe?
23:50 - Chernobyl
30:17 - Geopolitics
32:12 - Extreme scenarios
39:07 - How nuclear fusion works
1:11:59 - Extreme temperatures
1:17:00 - Fusion control and simulation
1:28:54 - Electricity from fusion
2:02:59 - First fusion power plant in 2028
2:09:52 - Energy needs of GPU clusters
2:20:16 - Kardashev scale
2:28:12 - Fermi Paradox
CONTACT LEX:
Feedback - give feedback to Lex: lexfridman.com/survey
AMA - submit questions, videos or call-in: lexfridman.com/ama
Hiring - join our team: lexfridman.com/hiring
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SPONSORS:
To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts:
UPLIFT Desk: Standing desks and office ergonomics.
Go to lexfr
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Let go of all the sociopaths and narcissists who have attached themselves to you for their own benefit. This includes many of your favourite people..
See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc.
0:00 - Introduction
3:14 - Nuclear fission vs fusion
13:14 - Physics of E=mc^2
18:28 - Is nuclear fusion safe?
23:50 - Chernobyl
30:17 - Geopolitics
32:12 - Extreme scenarios
39:07 - How nuclear fusion works
1:11:59 - Extreme temperatures
1:17:00 - Fusion control and simulation
1:28:54 - Electricity from fusion
2:02:59 - First fusion power plant in 2028
2:09:52 - Energy needs of GPU clusters
2:20:16 - Kardashev scale
2:28:12 - Fermi Paradox
Transcript:
lexfridman.com/david-kirtley-transcript
CONTACT LEX:
Feedback - give feedback to Lex: lexfridman.com/survey
AMA - submit questions, videos or call-in: lexfridman.com/ama
Hiring - join our team: lexfridman.com/hiring
Other - other ways to get in touch: lexfridman.com/contact
EPISODE LINKS:
David's X: x.com/dekirtley
David's LinkedIn: bit.ly/4qX0KXp
Helion: www.helionenergy.com/
Helion's YouTube: youtube.com/HelionEnergy
SPONSORS:
To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts:
UPLIFT Desk: Standing desks and office ergonomics.
Go to lexfr