Student builds mini fusion reactor in his apartment: This is why the project fails

Building fusion reactors in one’s own home seems to be becoming a trend at the moment. Last year, for example, the engineer Olivia Li constructed such a reactor in her apartment in New York.

Expert praises Fusor project

The work of Canadian student Hudhayfa Nazoordeen from the University of Waterloo builds on their successes, as Golem reports. And Li is full of praise for Nazoordeen. While many people were enthusiastic about building a fusion reactor, Nazoordeen was the only one who actually did it, the scientist explained.

The conditions were rather poor if you believe his reports on the project progress shared via X. Because he had no previous experience with hardware projects.

Building a fusion reactor: instructions online

To do this, Nazoordeen had access to a large number of instructions on the Internet and detailed advice in forums. He also came into contact with a number of nuclear physicists.

He then purchased the necessary components online, for example on eBay, or in local electronics stores. The whole thing cost him around 2,000 Canadian dollars.

The fact that his project ultimately received so much media attention is probably due to one special detail: Nazoordeen used ChatGPT rival Claude.

Student uses AI chatbot for construction

He fed him all his data sheets and the AI ​​chatbot helped him a lot, Nazoordeen told a Waterloo regional newspaper. Claude guided the student step by step in building the reactor.

The construction of the mini fusion reactor took around four weeks. The process was kept going mainly because some of the parts obtained over the Internet were defective or simply did not fit together.

The most annoying part of the project, however, was building the vacuum system. Here, Nazoordeen had to seal a few tiny leaks, which took him several days. Ultimately, the goal was to achieve a final vacuum of 25 microns – which the student managed.

Fusor lights up, but nuclear fusion fails

What didn’t work was nuclear fusion and thus energy generation. This is mainly because air is used as fuel instead of deuterium. At least the colliding air particles and molecules create a beautiful luminous effect.

But Nazoordeen will not give up. After building this demo reactor, a real Fusor is planned. All that is left to do is to secure the necessary funding. The student will also be able to complete this project in his apartment.