US nuclear-fusion lab enters new era: achieving 'ignition' over and over

Re:US nuclear-fusion lab enters new era: achieving 'ignition... by doctorwho42 on Sunday December 17, 2023 @12:34PM (#38674568)

Yes, but it's not ICF that will make it happen. It's MCF, look to SPARC and ARC being made by MIT & CFS in Massachusetts. Mark these words, by end of this decade we will have Q > 3 in an experimental MCF reactor and it will be SPARC. End of next decade we will have the first fusion power reactors (ARC). Whether they are used as on the grid solutions or instead heat sources for energy intensive processes (think chemical reactions, metal forges, etc ) in the 30's is yet to be determined.

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Re:US nuclear-fusion lab enters new era: achieving 'ignition... by callalex on Sunday December 17, 2023 @02:04PM (#38675372)

Can someone expand these acronyms for me please?

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Re:US nuclear-fusion lab enters new era: achieving 'ignition... by ublaze on Sunday December 17, 2023 @02:27PM (#38675590)

ICF: Inertial Confinement Fusion

MCF: Magnetic Confinement Fusion

CFS is Commonwealth Fusion Systems - https://cfs.energy/

Q is the ratio between energy in and out in a fusion system. Q > 1 is the holy grail, which implies we have more energy out of the fusion system than in. CFS is aiming for Q 11 in its prototype reactor.

SPARC is the "Smallest Possible" ARC I believe. It's their prototype reactor that they're working on that uses magnetic fields through superconductors to contain Hydrogen as it heats up into plasma and goes through the fusion process.

ARC is the 400MW reactor that will be produced (aimed for within a decade) if SPARC succeeds - it's the scaled-out version of SPARC.

It has an impressive set of people working on it (ex-SpaceX).

And yes, ARC is named after the Iron Man reactor.

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