Articles tagged with "fusion-technology"
440-ton field coil box delivered for world’s largest fusion magnet system
Shanghai Electric has successfully delivered the world’s largest toroidal field magnet coil box, a critical component for China’s fusion energy efforts. Weighing approximately 880,000 pounds and made from ultra-low-temperature austenitic steel, the coil box surpasses similar components used in France’s ITER project in both size and weight. The development process took five years and involved overcoming significant technical challenges, including advanced welding techniques on steel up to 14 inches thick, combining high-thickness laser welding with ultra-deep narrow-gap tungsten inert gas welding and phased array non-destructive testing to ensure precision. This achievement not only advances China’s capabilities in fusion technology but also supports the establishment of a comprehensive industrial supply chain for fusion energy. The innovations derived from this project have potential applications beyond fusion, including aerospace, energy equipment, shipbuilding, and offshore engineering. Additionally, the Institute of Plasma Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences is nearing completion of the Comprehensive Research Facility for Fusion Technology (CRAFT), designed to address
energyfusion-energysuperconducting-magnetsindustrial-supply-chainadvanced-manufacturingfusion-technologyITER350-MWe nuclear reactor to turn dead US coal mine into power plant
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has issued a Letter of Intent to Type One Energy to develop a 350-megawatt-electric (MWe) nuclear fusion power plant, named Infinity Two, at the site of the decommissioned Bull Run Fossil Plant near Knoxville, Tennessee. This project aims to repurpose the retired coal plant’s existing infrastructure, such as grid connections and access to cooling water, to support a commercial fusion facility expected to be operational by the mid-2030s. The Infinity Two plant will utilize stellarator fusion technology, which employs a complex, twisted magnetic field configuration to contain plasma, offering stable, steady-state, and high-efficiency operation—advantages over the more common tokamak design. The collaboration between TVA and Type One Energy builds on earlier agreements and commercial contracts under “Project Infinity,” including the development of a smaller stellarator testbed called Infinity One. TVA’s Power Service Shops are assisting in creating specialized welding and fabrication techniques for this prototype, which will
energynuclear-fusionpower-plantstellaratorrenewable-energygrid-integrationfusion-technologyNew US nuclear fusion project could use plasma jets to skip lasers
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is advancing a novel approach to nuclear fusion through its Plasma Liner Experiment (PLX), which uses 36 plasma guns to fire high-speed plasma jets that converge into an imploding plasma liner. This liner compresses a magnetized target to achieve the extreme heat and pressure necessary for fusion, mimicking the sun’s energy generation process. Unlike traditional fusion methods that rely on massive superconducting magnets or large lasers, PLX’s modular and scalable design offers a potentially simpler, more affordable, and compact path toward grid-scale fusion energy. LANL is currently seeking commercial partners to collaborate on further developing this technology, with proposals due by October 4, 2025. In the near term, PLX also serves as a unique facility to recreate extreme conditions for testing aerospace and defense materials, such as heat shields for hypersonic vehicles and spacecraft re-entry components—capabilities that are currently scarce. Over the next decade, the goal is to establish PLX
energynuclear-fusionplasma-jetsfusion-energyclean-powerfusion-technologyplasma-liner-experimentAvalanche Energy hits key milestone on the road to a desktop fusion reactor
Avalanche Energy has reached a significant milestone in developing a desktop fusion reactor by successfully operating its machine for hours at 300,000 volts. This voltage level is critical for their approach, which uses intense electrical currents rather than powerful magnets to accelerate ions into tight orbits around an electrode, causing them to collide and fuse, releasing energy. The company aims to build small reactors producing between 5 to several hundred kilowatts, with the high voltage density (6 million volts per meter) enabling efficient neutron generation for producing radioisotopes and testing fusion materials. The startup recently secured a $10 million grant from Washington State to build FusionWERX, a testing facility available to other fusion researchers that allows users to retain full intellectual property rights. Avalanche plans to become profitable by 2028 through radioisotope sales and FusionWERX rentals, forecasting revenues of $30 million to $50 million by 2029. The company is reportedly preparing for a Series A funding round to meet the 50%
energyfusion-reactordesktop-fusionclean-energynuclear-fusionenergy-innovationfusion-technologyITER plans half-mile boron gas pipelines to purify fusion plasma
The ITER fusion project is developing an extensive boronization system to purify plasma and reduce impurities in its tokamak reactor, following a 2023 decision to switch plasma chamber armor from beryllium to tungsten. This system applies a thin boron layer (10-100 nanometers) to all plasma-facing surfaces, which captures oxygen impurities that could otherwise increase radiative losses and destabilize the plasma, especially during discharge initiation. The boron layer is deposited using diborane gas (a hydrogen-boron compound) injected into the tokamak, where it decomposes and chemically bonds to surfaces via a glow-discharge-assisted plasma process. The gas injection system involves over a kilometer of piping and 21 injection points within the facility. Designing this system at ITER’s unprecedented scale and in a tritiated environment posed challenges, including ensuring the compatibility of high-energy anodes with frequent boronization cycles and achieving even boron coverage. These issues were addressed through international collaboration and testing with other
energynuclear-fusiontokamakboronizationplasma-purificationITERfusion-technologyGoogle taps ‘world’s first’ nuclear fusion plant for 200 MW power
Google has entered a landmark agreement with Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) to purchase 200 megawatts of clean fusion electricity from CFS’s upcoming ARC plant, slated to be the world’s first grid-scale nuclear fusion power facility. Located in Chesterfield County, Virginia, ARC aims to deliver 400 megawatts of zero-carbon energy by the early 2030s, enough to power around 150,000 homes or large industrial centers. Google will receive half of ARC’s output and has the option to buy electricity from future plants. The tech giant is also participating in a funding round to support CFS’s development efforts, marking its first commercial commitment to fusion energy. Fusion energy, generated by fusing light atomic nuclei at extremely high temperatures, offers a carbon-free power source with fewer safety and waste concerns compared to traditional nuclear energy. CFS, a spinout from MIT, is among the best-funded fusion startups, having raised $1.8 billion in 2021, with Google
energynuclear-fusionclean-energypower-plantrenewable-energygrid-scale-energyfusion-technologyUS physicists replicate forgotten nuclear fusion experiment from 1938
US physicists at Los Alamos have successfully replicated a nearly 90-year-old nuclear fusion experiment originally conducted in 1938 by University of Michigan physicist A. J. Ruhlig. Ruhlig’s experiment was the first to observe triton-deuterium (DT) fusion, a reaction now fundamental to nuclear fusion research and national security applications. Although Ruhlig overestimated the fusion reaction rate compared to modern understanding, his qualitative insight that DT fusion occurs with high probability when deuterium and tritium nuclei are brought close together has been validated. The replication helped clarify Ruhlig’s role in the early development of nuclear fuel physics and confirmed the significance of his accidental discovery. The modern experiment employed advanced neutron detection methods and introduced a novel approach to measure low-energy triton stopping powers in deuterium-containing materials. These measurements are directly relevant to ongoing fusion research, including efforts at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and other fusion energy projects. While the replicated experiment observed secondary DT reactions
energynuclear-fusiontriton-deuterium-fusionfusion-technologynuclear-energy-researchlow-energy-triton-stopping-powersinertial-confinement-fusionChina’s nuclear neutron gun fires atomic light to hunt hidden bombs
Chinese researchers at the Xi’an Modern Control Technology Research Institute have developed a compact nuclear neutron gun capable of controlled fusion between hydrogen and lithium inside a device roughly the size of a fire extinguisher. Powered by only 10 watts of direct current, the system uses a mechanical hammer to strike piezoelectric ceramics, generating high-voltage pulses that create an electromagnetic field accelerating hydrogen protons into a lithium cathode to trigger fusion reactions. This novel approach employs common materials rather than rare isotopes and a “polarised resonance” technique that boosts fusion probability by a factor of one million. The device produces a highly concentrated, directional neutron beam with an intensity of 10 billion neutrons per second and energies comparable to those in atomic detonations, marking a significant miniaturization of neutron sources. The neutron beam’s penetrating power has established applications in medicine, cargo inspection, and nuclear material detection, but also raises potential military implications given its similarity to neutron radiation weapons, which can incapacitate personnel while sparing infrastructure
energynuclear-fusionneutron-beampiezoelectric-ceramicsportable-reactoratomic-detectionfusion-technologyUK firm achieves first commercial tritium breakthrough for fusion fuel
Astral Systems, a UK-based private fusion company, has achieved a significant milestone by becoming the first firm to successfully breed tritium—a crucial fuel for nuclear fusion—using its own operational fusion reactor. This breakthrough occurred during a 55-hour Deuterium-Deuterium (DD) fusion irradiation campaign in March, in collaboration with the University of Bristol. The teams produced and detected tritium in real-time from an experimental lithium breeder blanket within Astral’s multi-state fusion reactors, addressing a major challenge in sustainable fusion energy development: generating more fuel than consumed. Astral Systems’ reactor employs its proprietary Multi-State Fusion (MSF) technology, which integrates recent advances in stellar physics and a novel lattice confinement fusion (LCF) approach, originally discovered by NASA in 2020. This design achieves solid-state fuel densities vastly exceeding those in plasma and enables two simultaneous fusion reactions within a compact reactor core. The electron-screened environment reduces the energy needed to overcome particle repulsion, lowering fusion temperatures and improving efficiency. This innovation not only advances tritium breeding but also opens possibilities for applications such as medical isotope production, nuclear waste transmutation, and hybrid fusion-fission systems. The University of Bristol team, supported by UK research bodies, is now focused on optimizing the system to enhance tritium output, signaling a promising path toward scalable fusion fuel production.
energynuclear-fusiontritium-breedingfusion-fuelfusion-reactorsustainable-energyfusion-technology