Dr. Peter O’Shea TRIUMF Saturday Morning Public Lecture - CONFIDENTIALNovember 18, 2017 Introduction to General Fusion • Founded in 2002 by Michel Laberge ( UBC PhD Physics 1990, Laser Fusion ) • Privately backed by investors including Jeff Bezos and Khazanah Nasional Berhad (Malaysian Sovereign Wealth Fund) • 75 employees, $100M+ in funding ( Many UBC Alumni, especially Eng. Physics ) • Focused on building a practical, commercially viable fusion power plant 2 Why develop a new type of power plant? Fuel shares in world total primary energy supply (2015) 80% of the world’s energy still comes from fossil fuels.1 Electricity is the world’s fastest-growing form of end-use energy consumption.2 $480 billion per year is invested in new power plants.3 Sources: 1 IEA Renewables Information Overview 2017, 2 EIA International Energy Outlook 2017, 3 IEA World Energy Outlook 2017 3 Emissions continue to rise… New York Times, Nov 6, 2017: Here’s How Far the World Is From Meeting Its Climate Goals 4 Emissions continue to rise… New York Times, Nov 6, 2017: Here’s How Far the World Is From Meeting Its Climate Goals 5 Electricity demand forecast to increase by 45% by 2040 Source: EIA International Energy Outlook 2017 (IEA WEO 2017 forecasts are similar) 6 Electricity demand forecast to increase by 45% by 2040 Source: EIA International Energy Outlook 2017 (IEA WEO 2017 forecasts are similar) 7 “To meet rising demand, China needs to add the equivalent of today’s United States power system to its electricity infrastructure by 2040.” “India needs to add a power system the size of today’s European Union.” IEA World Energy Outlook 2017 8 Total electricity generation by region 2016-2040 Source: IEA World Energy Outlook 2017 9 Fusion: Zero emission, on-demand electricity that is plentiful and safe Clean: No GHG emissions Safe: Meltdown impossible and no long lived waste Abundant: Fuel derived from sea water, millions of years worth available On-Demand: Able to provide baseload power around the clock Cost-competitive: Effectively zero fuel cost, high density energy 10 How does fusion work? 11 Approaches to fusion Magnetic Magnetized Inertial Confinement Target Fusion Confinement All Confinement Balanced All Compression Plasma confinement using Combination of compression Very fast compression using large magnetic coils and magnetic confinement high power lasers or ion beams Low density: Medium density: Extreme density: ~1014 ions/cm3 ~1020 ions/cm3 ~1026 ions/cm3 Continuous operation Pulsed: ~10 µs Pulsed: <1 ns (ITER) (General Fusion) (NIF) 12 Magnetic confinement fusion Image Credit: Matthias W Hirsch / Wikipedia 14 Magnetic confinement fusion - ITER ITER tokamak under construction (2016) CAD render of the ITER tokamak Image Credit: ITER (all) 15 Magnetic confinement fusion - ITER ITER tokamak under construction (2016) First Plasma ~2025 CAD render of the ITER tokamak Image Credit: ITER (all) 16 Approaches to fusion Magnetic Magnetized Inertial Confinement Target Fusion Confinement All Confinement Balanced All Compression Plasma confinement using Combination of compression Very fast compression using large magnetic coils and magnetic confinement high power lasers or ion beams Low density: Medium density: Extreme density: ~1014 ions/cm3 ~1020 ions/cm3 ~1026 ions/cm3 Continuous operation Pulsed: ~10 µs Pulsed: <1 ns (ITER) (General Fusion) (NIF) 17 Inertial Confinement Fusion National Ignition Facility NIF laser bay NIF fusion target NIF facility layout Image Credit: LLNL / NIF (all) 18 Inertial Confinement Fusion National Ignition Facility NIF laser bay NIF fusion target NIF facility layout Image Credit: LLNL / NIF (all) 19 Approaches to fusion Magnetic Magnetized Inertial Confinement Target Fusion Confinement All Confinement Balanced All Compression Plasma confinement using Combination of compression Very fast compression using large magnetic coils and magnetic confinement high power lasers or ion beams Low density: Medium density: Extreme density: ~1014 ions/cm3 ~1020 ions/cm3 ~1026 ions/cm3 Continuous operation Pulsed: ~10 µs Pulsed: <1 ns (ITER) (General Fusion) (NIF) 20 Fusion Technology Comparison Magnetic Field (Tesla) Normal Super- Max Flux Plasma Energy conductor HTC Max DC Compression Driver Power 1 30 1.00E+3 3.00E+4 1.00E+6 1.00E+11 1.00E+15 NIF ITER GJ TW 1.00E+08 1.00E+12 GF MJ GW 1.00E+05 1.00E+09 of $ Cost Driver $ of $ Cost Confinement kJ MW 1.00E+02 1.00E+06 1.00E+13 1.00E+16 1.00E+19 1.00E+22 1.00E+25 Plasma Density (cm-3) 21 Magnetized Target Fusion 1. Form a compact torus of plasma 2. Confine in conductive chamber 3. Compress and heat to fusion conditions 4. Repeat 22 Introduction to General Fusion • Pursuing Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) approach: liner compression of plasma • Derived from LINUS concept at US Naval Research Laboratories in 1970s • Recognized as a low cost and practical solution to major fusion challenges • Energy conversion • Materials degradation • Fuel production LINUS concept (1976) 23 General Fusion’s Concept 1. Plasma Injection • Spherical Tokamak Target • Formed by Coaxial Helicity Injection (CHI) • No External Coils • Metal Flux Conserver Only • Can’t run steady state • No energy sustainment • Initial plasma conditions (pre-compression) • Temperature: 400 eV • Density: 2x1020 m-3 • Initial β: 4% 24 General Fusion’s Concept 2. Plasma Compression • Array of Pistons Coupled to Liquid Liner (~10 GW aux heating from compression work) • Array of Pistons Moves the Wall Inward, Compressing Plasma ~10:1 Radially • ~20ms compression time • Cycle Repeats at ~1Hz • Work from the pistons 300 MJ 25 General Fusion’s Concept 2. Plasma Compression • Array of Pistons Coupled to Liquid Liner (~10 GW aux heating from compression work) • Array of Pistons Moves the Wall Inward, Compressing Plasma ~10:1 Radially • ~20ms compression time • Cycle Repeats at ~1Hz • Work from the pistons 300 MJ 26 General Fusion’s Concept 2. Plasma Compression • Array of Pistons Coupled to Liquid Liner (~10 GW aux heating from compression work) • Array of Pistons Moves the Wall Inward, Compressing Plasma ~10:1 Radially • ~20ms compression time • Cycle Repeats at ~1Hz • Work from the pistons 300 MJ 27 General Fusion’s Concept 3. Plasma Compression • Final plasma conditions (post-compression) • Temperature: 20 keV • Density: 2x1023 m-3 • β: 20% • Time at peak compression: 1 ms • DT Yield: 1 GJ Gain: 3.3 • ~80% direct compression energy recovery from rebound • Liquid Metal Liner serves as: • heat capture mechanism • Fuel production (lithium to tritium) • Structural protection 28 MTF removes the traditional barriers to commercial fusion Plasma Materials Energy Conversion Pulsed process eliminates need for Compression of plasma with liquid metal Energy conversion using existing complex and costly: avoids: technology: • Long confinement • Structural materials degradation • Proven liquid metal heat exchanger • Complex plasma heating systems • High-speed laser compression • Conventional steam turbine/generator • Consumable fuel targets • Problem of insufficient tritium creation • Efficient compression drivers (pistons) A uniquely practical solution to the challenges of fusion 29 Component Level Development Plasma Formation Liquid Metal Systems Plasma Compression 30 Consistently advancing towards commercialization 2014 2017E Small Plasma Injector PI3 large injector program achieved fully assembled, World Record operations begin Spheromak Thermal 2010 2011 Confinement (lifetime) Full spherical World’s largest Full scale piston 2017 sub-scale model plasma injector proof of concept SPECTOR small of prototype constructed (PI1) for servo control 2013 2015 injector achieved 5 cavity formation (timing) million ⁰C plasma system 2011 Small Plasma 12th plasma temperature, with constructed Injector program compression test broke Full scale plasma lifetime achieved threshold of 400% piston operated exceeding 2 ms for 1,000,000⁰C improvement in 2010 with liquid the first time plasma performance since start PI1 achieved metal 2012 temperature 2016 plasma density 14 piston of program SPECTOR small goal sphere operated with injector achieved liquid metal 3 million ⁰C cavity plasma temperature with 1.5 ms plasma lifetime 31 Plasma formation World’s biggest and most powerful plasma injectors Plasma Injector 500 eV pre-compression plasma with life-time >2,000 microseconds Developed and operated 18 generations of injectors since 2010 Library of over 150,000 plasma experiments Plasma Performance - Lifetime in Microseconds PI3 Prototype-Scale Plasma Injector 10,000 2,700 Performance Threshold for Fusion Conditions 800 1,400 400 40 100 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Today PI3 32 Small plasma injectors • Built on a reduced scale to reduce iteration time and expense • Allow a variety of geometries and overall safety factor (q) to be explored • 15 small injectors built so far • SPECTOR has achieved 500 eV, lifespan >2,000 μs ~30cm MrT : Magnetic PROSPECTOR SPECTOR SPECTOR in lab with diagnostics Ring Test Spherical Compact Toroid SPECTOR injector 33 Plasma Lifetime Progress General Fusion has created a long-lived plasma that we believe is good enough to compress. Time Compression Tesla Dec 2013 1.5 October 2015 100 µs thermal life Self-heating to >300 eV 1.0 Poloidal Field Poloidal 0.5 0 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 Sept 2012 May 2013 Feb 2014 µs 34 34 Spherical tokamak: 500 eV measured by Thomson Scattering 2017 • 2500 μs lifetimes • 500 eV 35 Large plasma injectors • Injectors built to a similar scale as expected for power plant • Pi1 and Pi2 demonstrated magnetic compression heating