The Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has signed a new five-year agreement with Commonwealth Fusion System (CFS), an emerging startup, with the intention of continuing their collaboration in research activities. fusion energy research and education, according to an institutional press release published by MIT News.
Startup Commonwealth Fusion System is backed by investors like Bill Gates and energy giants Eni and Equinor. It’s the tech spin-out from MIT that announced last year that it had successfully created a 20-Tesla magnetic field, the most powerful magnetic field of its kind using high-temperature superconductors.
On the way to building the world’s first fusion device
This device, the fusion machine, would make it possible to produce more energy than it would consume. Nuclear fusion is the name given to the process when smaller atoms collide with each other to produce atoms with a heavier nucleus and release large amounts of energy as a by-product.
It is precisely the same process used by our star, the Sun, and quite effectively. So scientists have been trying to replicate the process on Earth to generate carbon-free power. To do so, scientists use tokamak reactors and rely on superconducting magnets like the one built by CFS to prevent superheated plasma from hitting the reactor walls.
CFS’s superconducting magnet is made from rare-earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) and will help make smaller, faster and less expensive reactors, the startup claims on its website.
There is currently a facility under construction. The demonstration device, called SPARC, would be completed in 2025. Once that time is reached, CFS will try to lay down the first plasma and then harvest net power from the reactor, a key step toward commercializing this technology.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) suggests that nuclear fusion will provide an unlimited, cheap and sustainable source of energy while generating minimal radioactive waste.
According to the press release, the CFS will focus on the commercialization of the technology, while the PSFC will continue cutting-edge research and education in this area.
“Building one or 10 fusion plants doesn’t make a difference, we have to build thousands,” said Dennis Whyte, director of the PSFC. ” The real enemy here is time, and we want to remove as many impediments as possible and commit to funding a new generation of scientific leaders. Those are vitally important in a field with as much interdisciplinary integration as fusion.”
Referencia: MIT expands research collaboration with Commonwealth Fusion Systems to build net energy fusion machine, SPARC. Plasma Science and Fusion Center Massachusets Institute of Technology News.
