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A man in Canada has achieved nuclear fusion at home for just $3,000 by using Amazon-backed Anthropic's Claude AI. He broadcast the feat on an X livestream, and used easily available materials such as a hydrocar and deuterium oxide, also known as heavy water. Claude allowed him to sift through documentation and debugging instructions for the project, with OpenAI's o1 pro lending a hand by clearing up confusion about electrical wiring and assembly. The aim of the project was to build a fusor.
AI Allows Man To Build Nuclear Fusor In Just Two Days After Ordering The Required Parts
According to the man who goes by Hudzah on his substack, the goal of his experiment was to build a fusor to detect neutrons. Hudzah shares that the toughest technical part of his journey was building a chamber capable of sustaining extremely low air pressure measurable only in single digit or low double digit millitorrs (mTorr). Consequently, the two most expensive components of his setup included equipment to generate 30 kilovolts (kV) of voltage and between 5 to 15 mTorrs of vacuum.
Naturally, these components are also the most expensive, and Hudzah estimates that had he relied on easily available equipment, then his furor would cost around $15,000. However, publicly available guides allowed him to use a $120 two stage vacuum pump and $60 electrostatic capacitors on Aliexpress to build his equipment.
The third bit in his fusor puzzle was to procure a form of Hydrogen gas called Deuterium. In his substack, Hudzah notes that while procuring the gas requires "specific credentials and are only sold in 500L+ quantities," he was able to devise a simple workaround. Instead of buying 500 liters of the gas, he bought a children's fuel cell car, extracted the proton exchange membrane (PEM) from it, and used it to convert readily available deuterium oxide (D2O or heavy water) into deuterium.
After securing all the parts, Hudzah and a friend got to work. They spent the first six hours assembling the parts and ensuring the vacuum chamber could achieve a 3 mTorr pressure. The next six hours included another friend joining them, and the trio learning Chinese to achieve high voltages for D2 generation. They spent the next 12 hours finding a step-up transformer, debugging, working with a fried vacuum sensor and resting.
The hard work led to nuclear fusion at home during the next three hours. Hudzah shares that since he didn't have lead sheets for protection, he "turned the system on, opened the needle valve for the deuterium to be let it and ran to my room to hide!"
The entire setup cost $3,000, according to his comments on X. He warns that "neutrons and xrays emitted from this are cancer-causing and you use lead shielding to protect from it." He also adds that AI helped him with debugging and information processing.
Hudzah shares that he speedran the assembly using Claude Projects as it allowed him to "extensively to debug, help me with safety, and follow otherwise unknown instructions that were outlined in the build process." OpenAI's o1 Pro also helped him with " very complicated assembly or electrical wiring stuff."
over a 36-hour livestream, I built a neutron-producing nuclear fusor in my kitchen using Claude.
successfully achieving nuclear fusion, entirely assisted by AI.
this was my first hardware project!—full story below pic.twitter.com/yuvjE5IHFb
— HudZah ⁂ (@hud_zah) January 17, 2025
Editor's Note: Wccftech does not condone repeating any of the experiments mentioned in this post. The coverage is for informational purposes only, and any activities should strictly follow the laws of the jurisdictions in which they are conducted. Stay safe, everyone.
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
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