An Overview of the Magnetic Fusion Landscape and Key Technical Hurdles to Overcome

Learn more at www.tritium2025.com .  This international conference will address all aspects of tritium. Tritium’s importance as a fuel for most fusion plants, the connection between tritium and fusion will receive strong attention.  As part of the conference, the Fusion Energy Council of Canada is also organizing introductory sessions on tritium fundamentals and tritium in fusion energy production.

Type One Energy’s high-field stellarator path to fusion energy

Dr. Antoine Cerfon, Senior Scientist, Type One Energy, Vancouver, BC

Abstract: In this presentation, we will present a promising confinement concept for magnetic confinement fusion, called the stellarator, a close cousin to the tokamak. We will explain the elementary physics principles leading to this concept, and its strengths and weaknesses as compared to other confinement concepts. We will highlight recent achievements in stellarator experiments in North America and Europe, and how the high-field high-temperature superconducting magnet revolution will lead to further improvements in the performance of stellarator reactors.

We will then present Type One Energy, Inc., our stellarator fusion company based in Madison, Wisconsin, with a Vancouver, BC, Canada office, and finally discuss our efforts to train and attract talents to work with us here in Canada.

Presenter: Antoine Cerfon is a senior research scientist at Type One Energy, Inc., a private stellarator fusion company. Prior to joining the private sector, he was a tenured associate professor of mathematics at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, developing numerical methods to simulate the dynamics of fusion plasmas and optimization algorithms for the design of new fusion reactors.

Antoine obtained his Master of Science in Nuclear Science and Engineering from Ecole des Mines de Paris, France, and his PhD in Nuclear Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.

For more information check out Type One Energy’s website https://typeoneenergy.com/

CWFEST 2023

Cohosted by FECC and the Canadian Nuclear Society (CNS), the event focused on where we are at with respect to commercializing fusion energy in Canada and around the world. It attracted 12 presenters, including 9 leading private sector companies, each with a special approach to fusion energy production and addressing the commercialization of fusion energy challenge. The event had 129 registrants with a broad range of backgrounds:

  • Andrew Holland, CEO, Fusion Industry Association (FIA) https://www.fusionindustryassociation.org/The Global Fusion Industry in 2023
  • Omar Hurricane, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory https://www.llnl.gov/Lesson’s from Fusion Ignition and the Implications for Fusion Energy Science and Engineering
  • Nicholas Hawker, First Light Fusion https://firstlightfusion.com/Inertial Fusion with a One-sided Drive
  • Marius Schollmeier, MARVEL Fusion https://marvelfusion.com/Laser-driven Inertial Fusion with Direct Drive Volume Ignition
  • Brian Berzin, CEO, THEA Energy https://thea.energy/ (fka Princeton Stellarators) – Fusion energy made faster and simpler
  • Klaas Rodenburg and Axel Meisen, Fusion Energy Council of Canada (FECC) https://fusionenergycanada.ca/Status of Fusion in Canada
  • Alex Creely, Head of Tokamak Operations, Commonwealth Fusion Systems https://cfs.energy/  – High-field Path to Fusion Energy
  • Michael Hua, Director of Radiation Safety and Nuclear Science, Helion Energy https://www.helionenergy.com/Nuclear Engineering Considerations for Pulsed, Magneto-inertial Fusion Using Field Reversed Configurations
  • Hiroshi Gota, TAE Technologies https://tae.com/Overview of TAE Technologies’ Fusion Program Towards Aneutronic Fusion
  • Conner Galloway, CEO Founder, Xcimer Energy Corporation https://www.xcimer.energy/Bigger is Better: NLO-Boosted Excimer Lasers for Inertial Fusion Energy
  • Robin Langtry, Avalanche Energy https://www.avalanche.energy/Electrostatic Orbitron Fusion Reactor
  • Megan Wilson, Chief Strategy Officer, General Fusion https://generalfusion.com/Transforming how we energize the world

Note: Permission to post pdf versions of the presentations and recordings are pending.

WHAT IS FUSION?

Fusion is the energy source of the Sun and stars. In the tremendous heat and gravity at the core of these stellar bodies, hydrogen nuclei collide, fuse into heavier helium atoms and release tremendous amounts of energy in the process.

Twentieth-century fusion science identified the most efficient fusion reaction in the laboratory setting to be the reaction between two hydrogen isotopes, deuterium (D) and tritium (T). The DT fusion reaction produces the highest energy gain at the “lowest” temperatures.

Three conditions must be fulfilled to achieve fusion in a laboratory: very high temperature (on the order of 150,000,000° Celsius); sufficient plasma particle density (to increase the likelihood that collisions do occur); and sufficient confinement time (to hold the plasma, which has a propensity to expand, within a defined volume).

At extreme temperatures, electrons are separated from nuclei and a gas becomes a plasma—often referred to as the fourth state of matter. Fusion plasmas provide the environment in which light elements can fuse and yield energy.

– ITER Organization

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