U.S. The Department of Energy (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is collaborating with the private industry on cutting-edge fusion research with the goal of achieving commercial fusion. This work supports the development efforts of high-performance fusion grade plasma, enabled through a public-private DOE grant program. In one such project, PPPL is working in coordination with MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) and Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a start-up outside of MIT developing a talkmaking fusion device called “Spark”.
Given the size and potential misconceptions of superconducting magnets limiting plasma, the project aims to predict the leakage of fast “alpha” particles that occur during the fusion reaction in a spark. These particles can form large amounts of self-heating or “burning plasma” that fuels fusion reactions. The development of burning plasma is a major scientific goal for fusion energy research. However, leakage of alpha particles can slow down or stop the production of fusion energy rays and damage the interior of the spark facility.
New superconducting magnets
The main features of a spark machine include its compact size and powerful magnetic fields, the ability to operate on super high fields by the ability of a super superconducting magnet and the stress from current superconducting magnets. These features, as described in recent releases by the Spark team, will enable the design and construction of smaller and less expensive fusion facilities – assuming that fast alpha particles created in fusion reactions can contain enough time to keep plasma warm.
“Our research suggests they may be,” said Garrett Kramer, a physicist at PPPL, who participates in the project through the Dewey Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE) program. The two-year-old program, which serves as the deputy director of PPPL’s physicist Ahmed Diallo, aims to accelerate the development of the private sector in the fusion energy sector through partnerships with national laboratories.
Well bound
“We found that alpha particles are really well limited in spark design,” Kramer said. Plasma Physics Journal Report that findings. He worked closely with lead author Steven Scott, a consultant on Commonwealth Fusion Systems and a former longtime physicist at PPPL.
Kramer used the spiral computer code developed in PPPL to test the limits of Kramer particles. “This code, which mimics an avy wavy pattern or ripple, shows good captivity in a magnetic field that can escape fast particles and a lack of damage to spark walls,” Kramer said. In addition, he added, “Spinal code agrees well with Finland’s Ascot code. While the two codes are completely different, the results were similar.”
These findings delight Scott. “It’s a pleasure to see the computational validity of our understanding of corrugated-induced damage,” he said. “I studied this issue on an experimental basis in the early 1980s for my doctoral dissertation.”
Fusion reactions combine light elements in the form of plasma – a free, electron and hot, charged state of matter composed of atomic nuclei or ions, comprising 99 percent of the visible universe – to produce large amounts of gene radiation. Scientists around the world are looking to create fusion as a combination of virtually unlimited power to generate electricity.
Key Guide
Kramer and colleagues have noted that false proof of a spark magnet will increase the corrugated-induced damage of fusion particles resulting in the ability to strike walls. Their calculations about how well the magnets should be aligned to avoid excessive damage and wall damage should provide key guidance to the spark engineering team. Properly aligned magnets will enable the study of plasma self-heating for the first time and the development of improved techniques for plasma control in future fusion power plants.
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