Staged Magnetic Compression of FRC Targets to Fusion Conditions ALPHA Annual Review
John Slough Principal Investigator Helion Energy: Brian Campbell, David Kirtley, Richard Milroy, Chris Pihl, George Votroubek MSNW LLC: John Slough, Kyle Holbrook, Akihisa Shimazu Coronado Consulting: Daniel Barnes Cost of Fusion System ($B) 0.01 0.1 10 1 The Economics of Power Density Low DensityLow Wallheating Tokamak(ITER for continuous for Spherical Torus operation Stellerator RFPs, CTs Devices: 0.1 Reactor costs limit (Fusion’s Goldilocks Zone) Power (MW/m Power Density ) pulsed operationpulsed limit Wallmaterial Optimal Optimal Density Total Cost 10 Operating Point Operating Fusion Fusion Engine Fission 1000 Replacementcosts) Fusion 3 ) ( H eating and eating Magnetic Target (MTF) High High Density Laser based (NIF) MIF MIF (several) Driver Devices: 10 5 The Fusion Engine 1. Dynamic Formation – Two FRC plasmoids are dynamically formed by sequential field reversal 2. Peristaltic Acceleration – FRC plasmoids accelerated to high velocities (>300 km/s) 3. Merging –The two supersonic plasmoids merge converting FRC kinetic into ion thermal energy 4. Adiabatic Compression – FRC is reversibly compressed to fusion temperatures 5. Energy Generation – fusion neutron energy thermally converted in blanket with spent plasma
and fusion ion energy directly converted to electricity Artist’s animation of the FE
2D Magnetohydrodynamic simulation of the FE Fusion Engine Electrical Energy Flow
I. Formation I
II. Acceleration II
III. Merging III IV. Compression and Burn IV
V. Pump-out and Recovery V
Net Electrical output per pulse: (26.65 – 1.27 – 0.29) = 25 MJ = 50 MW @ 2 Hz e e = 0.9 cdc = 0.7 ddc = 0.85 th = 0.45 Fusion Gain Scaling Based on Past FRC Confinement
12 2 Fusion Engine Prototype Efus 1.2 10 n v N VolFRC (FEP) Collision cross section:
-33 2.6 4x10 Ti (eV) Empirical FRC confinement scaling: 15 0.5 0.8 2.1 0.6 N 3.2 10 xs rs n FRC energy: LSX (1991)** 2 Venti (VC+ARPA-E) 3 Be 2 EFRC NkTe Ti VolFRC rs ls Grande (2014)* 2 20 FRC internal (poloidal) flux: 1/ 3 r3 r s c p p Be rs rc Be Gain contours as a function of the FRC E G fus 0.093B2.4 0.82 l0.5 poloidal flux and compression magnetic field. e p s (FRC length l = 1 m) EFRC s
* Ti ~ 4 keV ls ~ 0.4 m ** Ti ~ 0.3 keV, ls = 3 m Current Experimental Effort Completed Venti Formation Test Facility Current Theoretical Efforts Recent Progress with Cygnus FRC code • Physics upgrades – Modified pulse-power circuit(s) – “Free-slip” boundary conditions – Ohmic heating to ions – Ionization energy factor • Numerical upgrades – r = 0 accuracy improvement – Increased accuracy/consistency of vacuum field solve – First multi-core operation (P-threads) – Direct calculation of mutual inductance matrix (circuit-centric) • Successful Benchmarking with Formation Experiment – Vacuum shots compared with Venti-form data – PI shots compared with Venti-form data Comparison of FRC Excluded Flux: Experiment – disch. 974, Simulation – calc. 21 Cygnus Development Vision
R 2D MHD + Circuits + Physics “Cygnus_red” Current O Version Red + Hall + Bias code 3D (Version Orange + Fourier Y toroidal )
G 3D Version Orange + test particles
B 3D w. self-consistent particles
I 3D particles w. noise reduction
W Final 3D version Energy Generation from Fusion at a Fraction of the Cost and Time Technology Summary Fusion Engine 50 MW @ 2Hz • Power density scales as 2B4 - the Fusion Engine will e operate at the highest and steady B of all fusion plasmas Large external divertor: mitigates power loading and provides for • Cylindrical geometry with external exhaust thereby solving divertor exhaust plasma energy recovery at high blanket and divertor materials issues thermodynamic efficiency. • Staged compression and magnetic energy recovery assure high electrical efficiency and rapid pulse repetition rates Magneto-kinetic accel/compression: formation direct, high efficiency ion heating to fusion temperature Technology Impact accelerator Remote burn: • Scale and complexity of fusion reactor greatly reduced ideal breeding geometry. Flowing heat exchanger solves Tritium breeding issues • Fusion Engine Prototype will demonstrate multi-keV 24 -3 compressor ions, densities up to 10 m , with the potential for m 3 breakeven Modular reactor design: lower cost, risk, greater availability, flexible siting, on-demand & base load Proposed Targets accelerator power State of the Fusion Engine Metric Art - NIF Prototype formation Facility & Op. Cost ($) > 5 Billion 0.008 Billion Time to full power operation 15 yrs < 2 yrs
divertor (=E /E ) Gain d plasma spent 5×10-5 1.5 0.2*1.2 *With mag. energy recovery =0.7 Rep Rate (shots/month) 20 2000