The Science Behind the Story
Only scientific facts were used in the process of story and screenplay development. The basic plot of the story is based on nuclear fusion, focusing on aneutronic fusion (fusion without neutrons) and aneutronic fusion reactors -the future technology considered to be the ultimate power production solution worldwide- as well as its economic and political implications.
AFR-1, the first aneutronic fusion reactor to go on stream is a fictional reactor though its design and concept technology is based on scientific research.
AFR-1 (Aneutronic Fusion Reactor)
The FRC(1) type aneutronic fusion reactor AFR-1 based on the Boron-Hydrogen reaction(2) is the pioneer of clean and reliable thermonuclear energy systems that do not produce free neutrons and thus radioactivity.
This technology eliminates thermal conversion by converting the energy released in the plasma directly to electricity(3), and provides a cheap, unlimited resource with which no other energy resource can compete.
(1) Field-Reversed Configuration
(2) p+ + 11B → [3 4He + (8.7 MeV)]
(3) The high energy alpha(4He) particles produced by the p+ + 11B reaction induce a cyclotron, generating an electrical current in its coil.
ANKA (Fusion-Ion Propulsion System)
The screenplay also refers to fusion rockets based on proton-boron11 reaction. An experimental fusion-ion propulsion system called “ANKA” (Phoenix) has also been developed within the development process of AFR-1.