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Taylor Wilson (born May 7, 1994) is an American
nuclear scientist and science advocate. From 2008 to 2014 he was the
youngest person to fuse the atom, until Jamie Edwards claimed the title.
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Nuclear detection
In May 2010, Wilson entered the Intel International Science and
Engineering Fair in San Jose, California, and won several awards for his
project titled "Fission Vision: The Detection of Prompt and Delayed
Induced Fission Gamma. Radiation, and the Application to the Detection
of. Proliferated Nuclear Materials".
In May 2011, Wilson entered his radiation detector in the Intel
International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles, California,
against a field of 1,500 competitors and won a US$50,000 award. The
project, “Countering Nuclear Terrorism: Novel Active and Passive
Techniques for Detecting Nuclear Threats”, won the First Place Award in
the Physics and Astronomy Category, Best of Category Award, and the
Intel Young Scientist Award. Wilson stated he hopes to test and rapidly
field the devices to US ports for counterterrorism purposes.
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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Energy
offered federal funding to Wilson concerning research Wilson has
conducted in building inexpensive Cherenkov radiation detectors; Wilson
has declined on an interim basis due to pending patent issues.
Traditional Cherenkov detectors usually cost hundreds of thousands of
dollars (USD), while Wilson invented a working detector that cost a few
hundred dollars.
Fusion reactor
In 2008, Wilson first achieved nuclear fusion using an Inertial
Electrostatic Confinement device which was a variation of the fusor,
invented by Philo T. Farnsworth in 1964. He utilized the flux of
neutrons from a deuterium-deuterium fusion reaction to conduct nuclear
experiments, as well as studied novel fusion fuels inside the IEC
device. In March 2012, Wilson spoke briefly at a TED conference
regarding the building of his fusion reactor. Along with the IEC
reactors, Wilson has conducted fusion research using Dense Plasma Focus
devices he also constructed and developed nuclear diagnostics for basic
fusion research.
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Fission reactor
On February 27, 2013 at TED 2013, Wilson presented his ideas on the
benefits of building small underground nuclear fission reactors that are
self-contained and use decommissioned nuclear weapons to fuel power. He
temporarily left his research on the fusion reactor and designed a
variation of a compact molten salt reactor that he says would supply
about 50 MW and would need refueling only once every 30 years. According
to Wilson, because much of the reactor would be buried and its uranium
would not be weapons-grade, it is less vulnerable either to terrorist
attack or misuse. The development of molten salt reactors began in the
United States at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where the first
reactor was built in the 1960s. The development of the new reactor type
was stopped in 1976 due to political issues. Since the beginning of the
21st century, molten salt reactors are again being explored in a few
countries in some commercial companies as well as in nationally funded
projects. Additional design information was provided at Google Zeitgeist
Americas ’13, which describes a sealed vessel and the use of natural
circulation in the core.
In an article in Power Engineering, Taylor states:
“ At its heart, the technology is the molten salt reactor invented at
the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the 1960s. The reactor designs I
have developed are inspired by this original concept to provide some of
the necessary features just touched on. Additionally providing passive
emergency cooling, an extremely compact core and reactor subsystems, few
moving parts, minimal online processing, and the latest materials and
fabrication techniques, and you can have an idea of the design I am
working to move to market. With a sealed module design life of 30 years,
even with the harsh fluoride salt environment, there are no exceedingly
difficult materials problems. Designs range in size from 2 to 100MWe,
the range in which the core technology excels. 50 MWe, however, is the
standard design for utility customers needing town-sized distributed
power generation. ”
—Taylor Wilson, August 15, 2013 |
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Personal life and education
Taylor Wilson was born in 1994 in Texarkana, Arkansas to Kenneth and
Tiffany Wilson. Kenneth is the owner of a Coca-Cola bottling plant, and
Tiffany was a Yoga instructor. Wilson was initially interested in
rocketry and space science, before entering the field of nuclear science
at age 10. During high school Wilson attended both the Davidson Academy
of Nevada and the University of Nevada, Reno where he was given a
laboratory to conduct his fusion research. He resides in Reno, Nevada.
In June 2012, Wilson was awarded the Thiel Fellowship. The two-year
$100,000.00 fellowship would require him to drop out of college for the
duration of the fellowship. |