Supermagnet 100,000x stronger than Earth’s magnetic field to bring nuclear power closer
· Yahoo NewsMassachusetts-based Commonwealth Fusion Systems, the world's largest private fusion company, has achieved a key milestone in its journey to producing energy for the grid. Earlier this week, the company successfully tested the Central Solenoid Model Coil (CSMC), a crucial component of its SPARC tokamak reactor design that could one day help produce carbon-free energy.
Nuclear fusion technology can potentially unlock limitless energy without producing any carbon emissions or high-level radioactive waste. Replicating the process that powers the stars here on Earth has proven challenging, but we haven't given up.
In the push towards a cleaner economy, nuclear fusion research has received larger support through government grants and aid while also enjoying equity funding. Reports suggest that fusion startups have raised more than $7 billion so far as they work to commercialize the technology to produce energy.
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Since its inception in 2018, Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) alone has raised $2 billion, making it the biggest nuclear fusion company in the world. With the successful CSMC testing, CFS has moved a step closer to realizing its nuclear fusion goals.
Key milestone achieved
CFS is working with the tokamak design for its fusion reactor and previously tested the Toroidal Field Model Coil (TFMC) in 2021. Both the TFMC and CSMS use high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets and will work together to control the fusion plasma inside the reactor.
The TFMC test demonstrated that the HTS magnet can operate with a steady electrical current, whereas the CSMC had to demonstrate that it could work with current pulses that can ramp up and down.
The test also demonstrated that the CSMC could create a magnetic field of 5.7 Tesla, about 100,000 times stronger than Earth's. It also reached a record for stored energy, reaching 3.7 megajoules.
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The CFS team also ramped up the electrical current to 50,000 amps, the maximum current SPARC is designed to work with and one that could power up 250 homes.
"When we hit the button and put current through the magnet, it performed like a champ and hit all its major test objectives," said Brandon Sorbom, Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer at CFS, in a press release. "This is an important milestone on the road to commercialization."
Achievements along the way
During the CSMC testing, the CFS team also demonstrated the utility of its novel fiber-optic-based system that can detect overheating events that can damage the magnet.
To build the CSMC and TFMC, CFS also had to develop its own HTS cable technology to handle the powerful pulsed-power magnets. Dubbed PIT VIPER, the team's innovative approach used an internal insulation design, which helped minimize heating even when the current was rapidly ramped up inside the magnet.
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"The fact that our team was able to develop this technology all the way from benchtop to a fully integrated, at-scale superconducting magnet in just a couple of years is huge," added Sorborn in the press release.
With both its magnets built and tested, the CFS team will now focus on building SPARC at its facility in Devens, Massachusetts. Aiming for plasma in 2026, CFS has ambitious goals to supply fusion energy to the grid in the early 2030s.