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: lexfridman.com
See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc.
Transcript:
lexfridman.com
CONTACT LEX:
Feedback – give feedback to Lex: lexfridman.com
AMA – submit questions, videos or call-in: lexfridman.com
Hiring – join our team: lexfridman.com
Other – other ways to get in touch: lexfridman.com
EPISODE LINKS:
David’s X: x.com
David’s LinkedIn: bit.ly
Helion: www.helionenergy.com
Helion’s YouTube: youtube.com
SPONSORS:
To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts:
UPLIFT Desk: Standing desks and office ergonomics.
Go to upliftdesk.com
Fin: AI agent for customer service.
Go to fin.ai
Miro: Online collaborative whiteboard platform.
Go to miro.com
LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix.
Go to drinkLMNT.com
BetterHelp: Online therapy and counseling.
Go to betterhelp.com
Shopify: Sell stuff online.
Go to shopify.com
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: lexfridman.com
– Apple Podcasts: apple.co
– Spotify: spoti.fi
– RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/
– Podcast Playlist: www.youtube.com
– Clips Channel: www.youtube.com
