MIT claim they will build the SPARC

[mvanwink5]

How is it avoiding the 'first wall' problem that all tokamaks have?

[Skipjack]

How is it avoiding the 'first wall' problem that all tokamaks have?

To my understanding, they are "just" going to do an ITER like wall, but build the whole machine in a way that is can be relatively easily serviced and replaced. The magnets open up like a flower on the top and the whole inner wall can be removed in two pieces (top and bottom). So it does not solve the problem but works around it. I assume that the hope is that eventually they will have materials that increase the time between service.

[Carl White]

Some additional information:

https://www.wbur.org/news/2021/12/02/ma ... sion-power

They're into construction of the first building (image at the linked website).

Commonwealth Fusion predicts it will have the world’s first net-energy fusion device by 2025 and is already building a factory in Devens to make the machine.

Mumgaard predicts that, by 2025, SPARC will produce ten times more energy than it consumes, and the company will have a commercial fusion device, capable of powering a town, in the early 2030s.

[ltgbrown]

This is getting pretty exciting! Between TAE and SPARC, 2025/2026 (inevitable delays) are going to be pretty explosive!

Just wish we knew what was going on with Polywell.

[Skipjack]

This is getting pretty exciting! Between TAE and SPARC, 2025/2026 (inevitable delays) are going to be pretty explosive!

Just wish we knew what was going on with Polywell.

Not just these two. We have ZAP with break even in 16 months, then Helion with net electricity in 2024, General Fusion's "Demo Plant" in 2024(?), TAE in 2024/2025, SPARC in 2025 and then Tokamak Energy some time around 2025 or maybe a tiny bit later. There are a few other companies that have solid plans (not just Polywell, but also MIFTI, LPPF and a bunch of others) but are currently still lacking funding, but that could change very soon.
I hope that in the wake of what is coming, Polywell and the others will finally see some love and most of all investment as well. Right now, the notion is that "fusion is still at least 30 years away". IF only one of the "big six" succeeds, there will be a gold rush on fusion. We have already seen some of that this year and I predict that this is only a small taste of what is coming. Mark you calendar for ZAP's big milestone 16 months from now! Mind you, ZAP and any one of these big players might fail. What could ruin things for everyone else is if that failure happens before a major success by at least on of the others. So lets all wish ZAP the best of success since their timeline is the most aggressive of all (followed by Helion)!
As a matter of fact, it is worth noting that ZAP could "overtake" (in purely triple product, which is not everything mind you!) everyone else, which is mainly because of the relative simplicity of their design. I don't want to pad my own back and I am not sure whether I ever said that on this board, but this is something that I saw a good chance for happening a while ago already.

[Carl White]

On an overcast day in early December, a yellow earth mover scooped dirt from the edge of a deep pit in Devens, Massachusetts, on the site of an old Army base some 50 miles outside of Boston.

This is the future home of SPARC

-----

Out at the 47-acre Devens site, near that pit where SPARC will be built, the crews have already erected the frame of a factory that will mass-produce magnets for the prototype reactor.

-----
"A hole in the ground could be the future of fusion power"

https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/0 ... monwealth/

There are other images there as well.

The promise of infinite cheap power will be a little less rosy after it arrives.

Hmm.

[crowberry]

As a matter of fact, it is worth noting that ZAP could "overtake" (in purely triple product, which is not everything mind you!) everyone else, which is mainly because of the relative simplicity of their design.

The triple product value reported by Zap Energy at the previous Fusion Power Associates meeting is higher than the value reached by TAE Technologies. Not all of the private fusion companies have published triple product values as they are busy with other important development work.

http://firefusionpower.org/FPA21-35_Zap ... Levitt.pdf, see page 6 of the slides.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2105.10954, see page 5 of this preprint.

[crowberry]

...
https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/0 ... monwealth/

In the article link above there is this quote that shows that also CFS is planning future sites for their reactors as General Fusion is doing:

The company has begun early conversations with potential customers about sites, as well as with regulators on what will be required to license and permit such plants.

[Skipjack]

As a matter of fact, it is worth noting that ZAP could "overtake" (in purely triple product, which is not everything mind you!) everyone else, which is mainly because of the relative simplicity of their design.

The triple product value reported by Zap Energy at the previous Fusion Power Associates meeting is higher than the value reached by TAE Technologies. Not all of the private fusion companies have published triple product values as they are busy with other important development work.

http://firefusionpower.org/FPA21-35_Zap ... Levitt.pdf, see page 6 of the slides.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2105.10954, see page 5 of this preprint.

Yes, I reported the fire presentation previously.

[Skipjack]

Some more insights into what CFS is planning to do in the recent NRC presentation:
https://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSear ... L22081A057

[Munchausen]

Problems ahead: The main supplier of superconducting tape is based in Moscow.

https://www.axios.com/sanctions-threate ... 54e06.html

[Skipjack]

I heard about that. There should be other suppliers plus they seem to have a branch in Japan also, so lets hope they can switch.

[crowberry]

Bob Mumgard is giving the talk Overview of the SPARC program -- goals and status at the 64th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics https://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DPP22/Session/UP11.18.

[Carl White]

Commonwealth Fusion Systems

Check out the latest construction photos from our commercial fusion campus in Devens, Massachusetts. We’re on track to demonstrate commercially relevant net energy with SPARC in 2025. And by the end of the year, our new manufacturing facility will be completed.

https://twitter.com/CFS_energy/status/1 ... 2619770881

[Skipjack]

Big!