David Kirtley: Nuclear Fusion, Plasma Physics, and the Future of Energy | Lex Fridman Podcast #485

More of these more technical interviews please. I’m not a phd. I’m a regular guy. But I can handle this. Keep it coming.

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.

It's mind-blowing that I can watch such valuable interviews for free

It's crazy this guy looks exactly like Dr.Octopus and he works with nuclear energy.

Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep485-sa 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:* https://lexfridman.com/david-kirtley-transcript *CONTACT LEX:* *Feedback* - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey *AMA* - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama *Hiring* - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring *Other* - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact *EPISODE LINKS:* David's X: https://x.com/dekirtley David's LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/4qX0KXp Helion: https://www.helionenergy.com/ Helion's YouTube: https://youtube.com/HelionEnergy *SPONSORS:* To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: *UPLIFT Desk:* Standing desks and office ergonomics. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/uplift_desk-ep485-sa *Fin:* AI agent for customer service. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/fin-ep485-sa *Miro:* Online collaborative whiteboard platform. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/miro-ep485-sa *LMNT:* Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/lmnt-ep485-sa *BetterHelp:* Online therapy and counseling. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/betterhelp-ep485-sa *Shopify:* Sell stuff online. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/shopify-ep485-sa

Kirtley is one of those really great knowledgeable passionate communicators. I've been listening for one hour now and I've been glued to my screen, taking it all in like a sponge.

Editor has been doing a heavy work with those visuals. Good work.

Please make these technical podcasts more often, not all the time because it would be really heavy to listen to but i love these once in a while.

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.

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.