Commonwealth Fusion Systems

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) is an American company founded in 2018 aiming to build a compact fusion power plant based on the ARC tokamak power plant concept.[2] The company is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is a spin-off of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). CFS has participated in the United States Department of Energy’s INFUSE public-private knowledge innovation scheme, with several national labs and universities.[3]

Commonwealth Fusion Systems
TypePrivate
IndustryEnergy, nuclear
Founded2018 (2018)
Headquarters
Cambridge, Massachusetts
,
US
Key people
Bob Mumgaard (CEO)[1]
Number of employees
100 (2020)
Websitecfs.energy

History

CFS was founded in 2018 as a spin-off from the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center.[4] After initial funding of $50 million in 2018 from the Italian multinational Eni,[2] CFS closed its series A round of venture capital funding in 2019 with a total of US$ 115 million in funding from Eni,[5] Bill Gates's Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Vinod Khosla's Khosla Ventures, and others.[6][7] CFS raised an additional US$ 84 million in series A2 funding from Singapore's Temasek, Norway's Equinor, and Devonshire Investors, as well as from previous investors.[8] As of October 2020, CFS had approximately 100 employees.[9]

In September 2020, the company reported significant progress in the physics and engineering design of the SPARC tokamak,[1][10] and in October 2020, the development of a new high temperature superconducting cable, called VIPER.[11][12]

In March 2021, CFS announced plans to build a headquarters, manufacturing, and research campus (including the SPARC tokamak), in Devens, Massachusetts an hour west of Boston off of Rt 2.[13][14] Also in 2021, CEO Bob Mumgaard was appointed to the board of directors of the Fusion Industry Association, which was incorporated as a non profit association with a focus on combating climate change.[15]

In September 2021, the company announced the demonstration of a high temperature superconducting magnet, able to generate magnetic fields of 20 Tesla.[16][17] According to the New York Times, this was a successful test of "...the world's most powerful version of the type of magnet crucial to many fusion efforts..."[18]

In November 2021, the company raised an additional $1.8 billion in Series B funding to construct and operate the SPARC tokamak.[19]

Technology
SuperOx was able to produce over 186 miles of YBCO in 9 months for use in Commonwealths' magnet.

CFS plans to focus on proving new yttrium barium copper oxide high-temperature superconducting magnet technologies. The company successfully demonstrated a large-bore, high-field (20 Tesla) magnet in September 2021.[20][8]

The magnet used wire primarily produced by the Russian-Japanese company SuperOx, which rebuilt its manufacturing process from the ground up to reach the high volumes required for the CFS magnets. The production process used plasma-laser deposition of YBCO on an electropolished substrate. Over 9-month period from 2019 to 2020, the company was able to produced over 186 miles of the wire in 400 to 600 meter lengths, this was more wire than the firm had made over the preceding 6 years.[21] In March 2022, Axios reported that as a result of sanctions against Russia, CFS faced significant supply chain problems [22]

This magnet technology will be used to construct SPARC, a demonstration net-positive energy tokamak.[23][24][25] As of September 2021, SPARC is targeted for completion by 2025.[20] CFS then plans to build a power plant based on the ARC design.[2] Both SPARC and ARC plan to use deuterium-tritium fuel.

The company's VIPER cable can sustain higher electric currents and magnetic fields than previously possible.

SPARC, through breakthrough energy technologies, will allow CFS to get commercial fusion energy on the grid as soon as possible. SPARC is designed with the collective and proven knowledge of the fusion programs around the world. SPARC is also using established plasma physics as well as the greatest tools that are advanced simulations, data analysis, and science from existing machines.[26] The magnet technology used in SPARC will give "the world a clear path to fusion power,"[27] according to the CFS CEO Bob Mumgaard. Mumgaard also states that the world needs a new form of technology to slow climate change by efforts to decarbonize on a timeline. This magnet technology allows CFS to produce clean, limitless energy for the world.

CFS uses newly commercially available high-temperature superconductors to construct the magnets that will allow much stronger magnetic fields in a device called a tokamak. These high-temperature superconductor magnets will allow a high field approach that will lead to CFS reaching net energy from fusion with a device that is much smaller, cheaper, and can be done much quicker.

Tokamaks work as donut-shaped devices that use magnets to manipulate and insulate the plasma where fusion occurs. The SPARC is predicted to be burning plasma which would be the first time on earth. This would mean that the fusion process would be predominantly self-heating.[26] Nothing has achieved net energy from fusion but tokamaks have been the closest to net energy. Tokamaks use low-temperature superconducting magnets that need to be massive in size to create the magnetic field that is necessary to achieve net energy. The CFS high-temperature superconductor magnets will create much stronger magnetic fields and due to it, the tokamaks can be much smaller.[27]

See also

References
  1. Fountain, Henry (September 29, 2020). "Compact Nuclear Fusion Reactor Is 'Very Likely to Work,' Studies Suggest". New York Times. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  2. Chandler, David (March 9, 2018). "MIT and newly formed company launch novel approach to fusion power". MIT News. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  3. Laboratory, Princeton Plasma Physics (January 2, 2021). "Future Zero-Emissions Power Plants: Scientists Collaborate on Development of Commercial Fusion Energy". SciTechDaily. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  4. Tollefson, Jeff (March 9, 2018). "MIT launches multimillion-dollar collaboration to develop fusion energy". Nature. Vol. 555, no. 7696. pp. 294–295. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-02966-3. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  5. Devlin, Hannah (March 9, 2018). "Nuclear fusion on brink of being realised, say MIT scientists". The Guardian. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  6. Rathi, Akshat (September 26, 2018). "In search of clean energy, investments in nuclear-fusion startups are heating up". Quartz. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  7. "Commonwealth Fusion Systems Raises $115 Million and Closes Series A Round to Commercialize Fusion Energy". PR Newswire (Press release). June 27, 2019. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  8. "Commonwealth Fusion Systems Raises $ 84 Million in A2 Round". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). May 26, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  9. Aut, Kramer David (October 13, 2020). "Investments in privately funded fusion ventures grow". Physics Today. 2020 (2): 1013a. Bibcode:2020PhT..2020b1013.. doi:10.1063/PT.6.2.20201013a. S2CID 243181080.
  10. "New Scientific Papers Predict Historic Results for Commonwealth Fusion Systems' Approach to Commercial Fusion Energy". Commonwealth Fusion Systems. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  11. "New High-Temperature Superconductor (HTS) Cable Demonstrates High Performance". Commonwealth Fusion Systems. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  12. "Superconductor technology for smaller, sooner fusion". MIT PSFC. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  13. Chesto, Jon (March 3, 2021). "MIT energy startup homes in on fusion, with plans for 47-acre site in Devens". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  14. "Commonwealth Fusion Systems Selects 47-Acre Site in Devens, Mass., for Historic Commercial Fusion Energy Campus". Commonwealth Fusion Systems. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
  15. "Fusion Industry Association Announces Independent Incorporation and Expansion". Yahoo! Finance. May 5, 2021. Archived from the original on September 16, 2021.
  16. "MIT-designed project achieves major advance toward fusion energy". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  17. "Commonwealth Fusion Systems creates viable path to commercial fusion power with world's strongest magnet". www.cfs.energy. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  18. Reed, Stanley (October 18, 2021). "Nuclear Fusion Edges Toward the Mainstream". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  19. "Nuclear-Fusion Startup Lands $1.8 Billion as Investors Chase Star Power". Wall Street Journal. December 1, 2021. Archived from the original on December 1, 2021.
  20. Chandler, David (September 8, 2021). "MIT-designed project achieves major advance toward fusion energy". MIT. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
  21. Molodyk, A., et al. "Development and large volume production of extremely high current density YBa2Cu3O7 superconducting wires for fusion." Scientific reports 11.1 (2021): 1-11.
  22. "Scoop: Russia sanctions threaten Commonwealth's supply chain". March 21, 2022.
  23. "A New Approach to Fusion Energy Starts Today | MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences". eapsweb.mit.edu. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  24. Greenwald, Martin (2019). "Fusion Energy: Research at the Crossroads". Joule. 3 (5): 1175–1179. doi:10.1016/j.joule.2019.03.013.
  25. Creely, A. J.; Greenwald, M. J.; Ballinger, S. B.; Brunner, D.; Canik, J.; Doody, J.; Fülöp, T.; Garnier, D. T.; Granetz, R.; Gray, T. K.; Holland, C. (2020). "Overview of the SPARC tokamak". Journal of Plasma Physics. 86 (5). Bibcode:2020JPlPh..86e8602C. doi:10.1017/S0022377820001257. ISSN 0022-3778.
  26. "Nuclear Fusion Articles Based on Papers Presented at the 27th Fusion Energy Conference". Nuclear Fusion. 60 (7): 079801. June 12, 2020. Bibcode:2020NucFu..60g9801.. doi:10.1088/1741-4326/ab8cb6. ISSN 0029-5515. S2CID 241625548.
  27. "PR Newswire", Encyclopedia of Public Relations, 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, California 91320 United States: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2005, doi:10.4135/9781412952545.n322, ISBN 9780761927334, retrieved April 28, 2022{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
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