Fusion Energy

Field-Reversed Configuration (FRC) fusion sits at the heart of Ashton Forbes' thesis. Unlike the mainstream tokamak approach (which Forbes argues is a deliberate dead end designed to consume billions while producing no practical results), FRC reactors use a fundamentally different geometry. The plasma is confined in a self-contained magnetic structure where the magnetic field reverses direction, creating a stable, compact configuration without the need for enormous superconducting magnets or building-sized containment vessels.

Robert Bussard's Polywell concept, developed through the WB series experiments (WB-1 through WB-8) at Energy/Matter Conversion Corporation, represents the most significant thread in this narrative. Bussard, who served as Assistant Director of the Atomic Energy Commission, pioneered Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC) fusion, a method that uses electric fields rather than magnetic confinement to accelerate ions toward a central point.

His 2006 Google Tech Talk, delivered shortly before his death, revealed that the Navy had funded this work for over a decade under classification. The "Whiffle Ball" effect he described (cusped magnetic fields creating a nearly perfect electron trap) achieved what he called "beta one" conditions, where plasma pressure equals magnetic pressure.

The ultimate prize is aneutronic fusion using proton-boron-11 (pB11). Unlike deuterium-tritium reactions that produce dangerous neutron radiation, pB11 fusion produces three alpha particles (helium nuclei) and no neutrons. This means no radioactive waste, no neutron damage to reactor walls, and the physical option of direct electricity conversion since the reaction products are charged particles. Whether a commercial reactor uses direct conversion or a conventional steam cycle is then an engineering choice; HB11 Energy's current 1 GW concept uses a steam cycle for first-of-a-kind hardware, while the Miley framework describes direct conversion as part of the reactor design. Forbes argues that this technology was achieved decades ago within classified Navy programs and has been deliberately suppressed to protect existing energy monopolies.

Today, TAE Technologies (formerly Tri Alpha Energy) is pursuing FRC fusion with proton-boron-11 fuel commercially. Helion Energy is also FRC-based but uses a deuterium-helium-3 fuel cycle, with their Polaris machine running deuterium-tritium as of February 2026 to validate scaling toward D-He3 commercial operation. Both lend mainstream credibility to the high-beta approach Bussard pioneered. Meanwhile, Salvatore Pais' Navy patents describe compact fusion reactors with extraordinary energy densities. The convergence of public commercial efforts and classified military research points to a technology far more mature than the public has been led to believe.