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Actually it's quite clear: use REBCO superconductors. Tokamak output scales with the square of reactor volume and the fourth power of magnetic field strength.
by DennisP 4y ago
Actually it's quite clear: use REBCO superconductors.
Tokamak output scales with the square of reactor volume and the fourth power of magnetic field strength. Double the field, 16X the output.
Modern REBCO superconductors can support much stronger magnetic fields than ITER will manage. That's why CFS is building a reactor using REBCO which is much smaller than ITER, but should have the same performance. It'll be half the size of JET, which was built in a year. They're planning a net power attempt in 2025 and a lot of independent fusion researchers think they'll succeed.
CFS is a spinoff from MIT, whose Alcator C-Mod had more powerful magnets than any other tokamak in the world.
- Stevvo 4y agoSPARC's 2025 timeline is a joke. They haven't even started hiring engineers yet, let alone building the thing because they still have no idea how to make a big enough REBCO magnet.
- DennisP 4y agoThey've already built a SPARC-size REBCO magnet, and demonstrated it at 20 Tesla for five hours. https://www.ans.org/news/article-3240/mit-ramps-10ton-magnet-up-to-20-tesla-in-proof-of-concept-for-commercial-fusion/ https://www.ans.org/news/article-3240/mit-ramps-10ton-magnet... https://news.mit.edu/2021/MIT-CFS-major-advance-toward-fusion-energy-0908 https://news.mit.edu/2021/MIT-CFS-major-advance-toward-fusio... It's pretty amazing that they did that without any engineers.