# How do you extract energy from aneutronic fusion?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-extract-energy-from-aneutronic-fusion/661701
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 23, 2013, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-extract-energy-from-aneutronic-fusion/661701 "2013-06-23T13:22:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![sweeteviljesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2013, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-extract-energy-from-aneutronic-fusion/661701/1 "2013-06-23T13:22:31Z")

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I was reading about boron and it’s use as a candidate in aneutronic fusion. I believe that it said that boron-11 would fuse with a proton with 500KeV. That seemed like a pretty low energy for a proton, but we aren’t doing it so I want to know why. It occurred to me that you aren’t trying to capture the charged particles from the reactions (after all, you started with protons), you are trying to capture the energy released by the reaction. How does one do that? Stick the apparatus in a tank of water?

Thanks,  
Rob

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### Author: ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2013, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-extract-energy-from-aneutronic-fusion/661701/2 "2013-06-23T13:33:01Z")

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I don’t think we’ll be fusing boron any time soon.  
But the last section of the Wikipedia article suggests you don’t need the heat exchanger found in today’s nuclear plants, that instead the power could be captured directly.

> **[Aneutronic fusion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneutronic_fusion#Methods_for_energy_capture)**
>
> Aneutronic fusion is any form of fusion power in which very little of the energy released is carried by neutrons. While the lowest-threshold nuclear fusion reactions release up to 80% of their energy in the form of neutrons, aneutronic reactions release energy in the form of charged particles, typically protons or alpha particles. Successful aneutronic fusion would greatly reduce problems associated with neutron radiation such as damaging ionizing radiation, neutron activation, reactor maintenanc...