SUNY Geneseo Physics & Astronomy Colloquium
Thursdays, 4:00 p.m., in Newton 204. (There will be refreshments!)
(See Colloquia List for the Full Semester)
| High Temperature Superconductors for Fusion Energy | |
by Dr. Brian Moeckly |
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Thursday December 5, 2024 at 4:00 pm in Newton 204 Decades of worldwide, government-sponsored research in fusion science have established the tokamak-based configuration as the leading approach to confining fusion-grade plasmas with strong magnetic fields. Yet in the past even state-of-the art superconducting magnet technology required tokamaks to be enormous to produce net fusion energy. High-temperature superconductors have recently reached industrial maturity. Commonwealth Fusion Systems is using these high-temperature superconductors to build smaller and lower-cost tokamak fusion systems. Following our successful demonstration of a large-bore, 20-Tesla, all-HTS magnet in September 2021, we have begun construction of an energy-breakeven fusion device called SPARC that will be commissioned in 2026. A fusion pilot plant called ARC will follow, with the aim of putting fusion power on the grid in the early 2030s. In this talk I will explain why high-field HTS magnets are a game changer for fusion energy, and I will review progress on the design and construction of fusion machines that will provide limitless, clean, fusion energy to combat climate change. |
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