Magnetic Confinement Fusion Energy Systems on the Path to Commercialization Dan Brunner, Commonwealth Fusion Systems Thanks to: B. Bourque, S. Cohen, R. Dinan, M. Gryaznevich, D. Kingham, T. McGuire, M. Paluszek, J. Park, D. Sutherland, R. Volberg, and S. Woodruff 2018 IAEA Workshop on Fusion Enterprises, Santa Fe, New Mexico Overview • Extended look at: • Lighter look at: • Commonwealth Fusion Systems • Applied Fusion Systems • Lockheed Martin • CTFusion • TAE Technologies • Hypervelocity Rings • Tokamak Energy • EMC2 • Fusion One • Princeton Satellite Systems 2 Commonwealth Fusion Systems • Basic Concept: • Compact, high-field tokamak • Major Differentiation: • Utilize proven physics of tokamaks, the highest performance, most heavily studied and characterized fusion confinement device to date • Major risk to demonstrate Q>1 is technical development of magnets, minimal physics extrapolation • Major collaboration with established fusion lab (MIT PSFC), eventually extend to wider fusion community • Power Plant Vision: • Compact tokamak, low 100’s MWe (can readily scale larger as needed), D-T • Simple maintenance due to demountable magnets and liquid blanket • Economic models suggest competitive with other sources 3 Commonwealth Fusion Systems • Present Status: • Closing first round of financing, $50M Eni (Italian energy company) plus others • Ramping up business operations, hiring, magnet R&D, device design • Have research agreement with MIT, growing relationship with broader community • Major Challenges: • Engineering, building, and testing of high-field superconducting magnets • Scaling up superconductor production • Well-characterized tokamak challenges, but with clear paths to develop solutions (e.g., see ReNeW report). “Everyone’s jumping off a cliff, it’s just that your cliff is a very well- characterized one.” –CFS advisor • Near-Term Work: • Engineer high-field superconducting magnets in R&D collaboration with MIT • SPARC Q>1 tokamak physics basis with MIT, hopefully extended community • SPARC device engineering (coupled to previous two results) 4 Lockheed Martin • Basic Concept: • “Compact Fusion Reactor” - CFR • High-beta mirror/cusp hybrid • Diamagnetic sheath confinement • Major Differentiation: • Compact core • Non-magnetized bulk plasma • Good curvature stabilization • Power Plant Vision: • 100 MWe, D-T • Fusion core: • ~200-1,000 metric tons • ~15.5 m long x ~6.5 m OD 5 © 2018 Lockheed Martin Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Lockheed Martin • Present Status: • T4B plasma source testing: demonstrated stable cold plasma, benchmarked models • T5 commissioning • Examining plasma dynamics, confinement with PIC simulations • Major Challenges: • Not-yet experimentally demonstrated confinement regime • Large physics parameter extrapolation from present experiment to reactor • Internal superconducting coil shielding (radiation and plasma losses) T4B LaB6 Plasma Test, 3/23/2017 • Near-Term Work: • T5 Goals: • Show plasma heating and inflation, measure sheath losses • Demo high density plasma source, neutral beam confinement • Measure sheath size, cusp losses, and characterize instabilities T5 6 © 2018 Lockheed Martin Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Tokamak Energy • Basic Concept: • Spherical tokamak, with • High temperature superconducting magnets • Major Differentiation: • Ability of STs to achieve high beta and high bootstrap fraction at the same time • Power Plant Vision: • Compact, modular fusion power • 150 MW modules, D-T 7 Tokamak Energy • Present Status: • ST40 spherical tokamak operating successfully • Good progress with HTS magnet design • Major Challenges: • Reaching 100 million degrees plasma temperature in ST40 • Quench protection of HTS magnets • Extrapolation of ST confinement scaling to low collisionality • Near-Term Work: • Further development of ST40 spherical tokamak • Further progress with HTS magnet design and prototypes 8 TAE Technologies* • Basic Concept: • Colliding Beam Fusion Reactor (neutral beam heated field-reversed configuration) • p-11B aneutronic reaction • Major Differentiation: • Linear system, simple maintenance • Aneutronic reaction • Direct energy conversion • Power Plant Vision: • 200-500 MW 9 *TAE did not respond to request to fill out template TAE Technologies • Present Status: • Achieved “long enough” goal of 10 ms plasma lifetime on C-2U • Working on “hot enough” goal of 5-7 keV on Norman (right) • Major Challenges: • Achieving confinement needed for p-11B fusion • Thin margins on net energy for p-11B • Efficient direct energy conversion and heating • Side nuclear issues for p-11B • Near-Term Work: • Achieving “hot enough” in Norman • Spinning out neutral beam technology for boron neutron capture cancer therapy 10 Applied Fusion Systems UK LTD • Concept and Differentiation: • Computer simulation, design and manufacture of advanced, compact fusion devices for the purpose of energy production and propulsion • Present Status & Near-Term Work: • R&D of SMR’s and nuclear enhanced air- breathing rockets (NEAR technology) • The company has constructed to date and owns: • Ion and Hall thrusters • Compact tokamak and spherical tokamak devices • An advanced tokamak divertor system 11 CTFusion • Concept and Differentiation: • Steady-state, D-T spheromak plasma sustained with Imposed-dynamo current drive (IDCD) – the “Dynomak” fusion concept • Simply-connected topology with no externally applied toroidal magnetic field and power efficient plasma current drive • A sustained spheromak fusion core with optimal wall-loading and blanket thickness may enable low-cost fusion power plants • Present Status & Near-Term Work: • A small-scale Dynomak prototype (�" = 35 cm, � = 23 cm) is currently operating at the University of Washington (UW), funded by U.S. DOE • CTFusion has exclusive rights to relevant UW IP for the continued development of this fusion technology • CTFusion plans to build and operate a next-generation Dynomak prototype (�"= 50 cm, � = 33 cm) that will demonstrate our patented plasma driver technology sustaining higher temperature, longer pulse, spheromak plasmas • CTFusion has secured a Phase I SBIR to build an advanced feedback control system that will optimize spheromak performance in the current and next-generation Dynomak prototypes CTFusion Contact: Derek Sutherland, Co-founder and CEO, P.O. Box 45562, Seattle, WA, 98145, [email protected]. 12 Hypervelocity Rings • Concept and Differentiation: • Hypervelocity heating of fuel into spheromak, based on RACE at LLNL • Cylindrical, maintainable geometry • 60 MA, 20 Hz, R=4 m, 7 T max coils • Present Status & Near-Term Work: • Need new champion to push forward • Experiments to examine ramp up to burn dynamics, energy confinement time • Test magnetic field in injector to limit impurities Robert Bourque, retired LANL [email protected] 13 Energy Matter Conversion Corporation • Concept and Differentiation: • Polywell: Polyhedral magnets and electrostatic potential well • Simple, modular magnets, compact due to high fuel pressure • Gridless electron-beam heating for high efficiency heating with a potential for advanced fuels and direct energy conversion • Present Status & Near-Term Work: • Completed 20+ year R&D program, funding from DARPA, US Navy, and others (20 test devices, 4 issued and pending patents) • Demonstrated confinement of 7 keV electrons and developed 1st principles particle code for technology validation and optimization for confinement, heating, and fuel choice • Next phase (2-3 years) demonstrate reactor-scale performance: achieve steady-state operation with 1-10 keV particle confinement 14 Fusion One Corporation • Concept and Differentiation: • Magneto-electrostatic hybrid with aspects of Bussard’s Polywell and Lavrentiev’s Jupiter concepts • Cathode repeller system couples electrostatic and magnetic cusp confinement, reflects electrons to limit losses • Present Status & Near-Term Work: • Project cancelled • Self-consistent analytic power balance model revealed that power to maintain non-thermal ion distribution leads to poor efficiency: best Q was with D-T at Q ~ 3.5 (results apply to all electrostatic concepts) • Should be viewed as a successful approach: identify the highest risks and worked to retire them at the lowest cost in the quickest time 15 Princeton Satellite Systems, in collaboration with PPPL • Concept and Differentiation: • Field reversed configuration (FRC) in a mirror with solenoidal coils • Power Level 1-10 MW, 25 cm radius plasma, 5 m length, neutron wall load < 0.001 D-T Tokamak • Heat D-He3 plasma using odd-parity rotating magnetic fields (RMF0) • Flow additional gas through the scrape off layer to remove fusion products to produce electricity or thrust for a rocket engine • Present Status & Near-Term Work: • Designing superconducting coil assembly • Designing high efficiency RMF0 system • Increasing the RF drive to 200 kW to demonstrate 1 keV ion heating 16 Present Experiment Space Propulsion Terrestrial Power Generation Proton Scientific, Inc. • Basic Concept: • Two-pulse, “Fast Ignition”-like electron beam fusion (EBF) of solid D-T ice target using pulsed power (without lasers) utilizing a proprietary electron-beam focusing method generating the e-beam of sub-100 micron diameter. • Currently working prototype Thunderbird demonstrates the beam focusing to 20 micron diameter. • Next phase, EBF prototype device supported by PIC and MHD models is being designed to demonstrate the fusion process resulting in a positive energy output applicable to commercialization. • Major Differentiation: Using pulsed power for both the compression and ignition pulses of the two-pulse fusion process (cf. Fast Ignition and MagLIF using lasers). • Power Plant Vision: EBF repetitive pulse (heat-generating) from 100 MW, scalable to GW power units, under $0.1/ KWh cost of electricity. W: http://protonscientific.com/ E: [email protected].