#485 – David Kirtley: Nuclear Fusion, Plasma Physics, and the Future of Energy

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. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep485-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. 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://upliftdesk.com/lex Fin: AI agent for customer service. Go to https://fin.ai/lex Miro: Online collaborative whiteboard platform. Go to https://miro.com/ LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex BetterHelp: Online therapy and counseling. Go to https://shopify.com/lex OUTLINE: (00:00) – Introduction (03:00) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (11:35) – Nuclear fission vs fusion (21:35) – Physics of E=mc^2 (26:50) – Is nuclear fusion safe? (32:11) – Chernobyl (38:38) – Geopolitics (40:33) – Extreme scenarios (47:28) – How nuclear fusion works (1:20:20) – Extreme temperatures (1:25:21) – Fusion control and simulation (1:37:15) – Electricity from fusion (2:11:20) – First fusion power plant in 2028 (2:18:13) – Energy needs of GPU clusters (2:28:38) – Kardashev scale (2:36:33) – Fermi Paradox PODCAST LINKS: – Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast – Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr – Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 – RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ – Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 – Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips