1406229 (1)
Exploring lower cost pathways to economical fusion power
LA-UR-17-25642 (Accepted Manuscript)
Hsu, Scott C.
To be published in: Open Access Government
DOI to publisher’s version:
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to fusion conditions by an implodingpusher, called a “liner.” For example,the Canadian company General Fusionis developing MTF via acousticallydriven liquid lead-lithium as theirliner. MIF is inherently lower cost thanother fusion approaches because MIFaims to achieve a compressed fueldensity that optimises the combina-tion of plasma heating power andstored energy required to achievefusion conditions4, thereby minimisingthe capital cost of the required facility.On the other hand, for historical andmyriad other reasons, the mainstream,most scientifically mature approachesof magnetic-confinement fusion (MCF,such as ITER) and inertial-confinementfusion (ICF) operate at the lowest andhighest extremes of fuel density,respectively. As a result, due to basiclaws of plasma physics, MCF requiresvery large size and stored energy, andICF requires very high power to com-press the fuel, which both drive costsinto the multi-billion (US).Our project, the Plasma Liner Experi-ment-ALPHA (PLX-α)5,is one of nineprojects supported by the ALPHA Program6of the Advanced ResearchProjects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) ofthe U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).We use innovative, low-cost coaxialplasma guns (Fig. 1), developed andbuilt by partner HyperV TechnologiesCorp.7, to launch a spherically con-verging array of supersonic plasmajets toward the middle of a large,spherical vacuum chamber (Fig. 2). Akey near-term goal of PLX-αis tomerge up to 60 plasma jets to form aspherically imploding plasma liner, asa low-cost, high-shot-rate driver forcompressing magnetised target plasmasto fusion conditions. This approach isknown as plasma-jet-driven MIF (orPJMIF)8. A new startup companyHyperJet Fusion Corporation (whichrecently received seed funding fromStrong Atomics, LLC, a new fusion ven-ture fund)aims to develop PJMIFunder continued public and privatesponsorship.In an ensuing article, we will describethe key elements that led to jointpublic/private sponsorship of thisresearch, in hopes of motivating publicpolicymakers and private-sectorinvestorsto make such sponsorshipsmore commonplace throughout thefusion-development enterprise.1 For example, Burning Plasma Experiment Special, Fusion Tech-nology 21, 1045-1308 (1992); http://fire.pppl.gov/fusion_li-brary.htm(accessed July 9, 2017)2 www.iter.org3 http://www.firefusionpower.org/EU_US_ITER_Cost%20Estimate-s_2017.pdf(accessed July 9, 2017)4 I. R. Lindemuth and R. E. Siemon, Amer. J. Phys. 77, 407 (2009)5 https://arpa-e.energy.gov/?q=slick-sheet-project/plasma-liners-fusion(accessed July 9, 2017)6 https://arpa-e.energy.gov/?q=arpa-e-programs/alpha(accessedJuly 9, 2017)7 www.hyperv.com8 Y. C. F. Thio et al., “Magnetized Target Fusion in a Spheroidal Geometry with Standoff Drivers,” in Current Trends in InternationalFusion Research - Proc. 2nd International Symp. (NRC Canada,Ottawa, 1999), p. 113; S. C. Hsu et al., IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 40,1287 (2012).Scott C HsuLos Alamos National LaboratoryTel: +1 505 667 [email protected]/275PROFILEFigure 2. The objective of our research: to form a spherically imploding plasma liner (by merging60 plasma jets) that will be used to compress a magnetized target plasma to fusion conditions.The cutaway spherical vacuum chamber is 2.7 m in diameter. Figure courtesy of HyperVTechnologies Corp.