Re:Nuclear-fusion reactor doubles record for energy made fro...
by pfdietz on Thursday February 24, 2022 @07:24AM
(#30453866)
You are making a commonly seen mistake there.
Yes, making magnetic fields stronger can give one higher power density than ITER. But one runs into a limit because of power density at the wall. Once you're at that limit, higher magnetic fields don't really help.
ARC's volumetric thermal power density (volume of reactor, not of the plasma) is just 1/40th that of the primary reactor vessel of a commercial pressurized water fission reactor.
60% of the mass of an ARC reactor is in the steel structural supports for the magnets, so it's about at the upper limit for steady magnetic fields in a fusion reactor.
Yes, making magnetic fields stronger can give one higher power density than ITER. But one runs into a limit because of power density at the wall. Once you're at that limit, higher magnetic fields don't really help.
ARC's volumetric thermal power density (volume of reactor, not of the plasma) is just 1/40th that of the primary reactor vessel of a commercial pressurized water fission reactor.
60% of the mass of an ARC reactor is in the steel structural supports for the magnets, so it's about at the upper limit for steady magnetic fields in a fusion reactor.