In March of this year, six peer-reviewed articles appeared in a special edition of IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity. The articles describe the design and manufacture of magnets being used to develop a nuclear fusion reactor. Their success portends a world-transforming innovation may be within reach.
In September 2021, MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, along with a startup, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, tested a new type of magnet. This magnet was made with high-temperature superconducting wire. Superconducting wire has virtually no resistance to electrical current flow, so it can transmit tremendous amounts of electricity easily. The catch is that it only operates at extremely low temperatures—around -270C (-454F). Maintaining a temperature that low is challenging and expensive. In recent years, however, a new material appeared that works at higher temperatures. Rare-earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) works at around -250C (-418F). While this may not sound like much of a difference, it makes all the difference in the world. The development team redesigned the magnets from the ground-up. In testing, the magnets achieved 20 Tesla—a world record for their size. (A junkyard magnet is about 1 Tesla; a refrigerator magnet is 0.01 to 0.1 Tesla.) At that strength, nuclear fusion becomes economically feasible. Nuclear fusion squeezes hydrogen atoms into helium, releasing vast amounts of energy in the process. (The sun and the hydrogen bomb use this same process.) However, because the reaction would melt any container, scientists use magnets to suspend the fuel (plasma) in mid-air and to initiate the squeezing. This test reduced the size and cost of those magnets by a factor of 40. Prior to this, magnets of such strength were so large that power production would not be economically viable.
Nuclear fusion is likely the next preconditioning innovation. Preconditioning innovations change the world. Throughout history, there have been four: food production, labor specialization, mathematics, and Christianity. It is likely that nuclear fusion is the fifth. Fusion could satisfy the world’s energy needs cheaply. It would also prepare the world for societal level change.
Since the test, the PSFC/CFS team has been installing the magnets into a prototype reactor in Devens, MA, called SPARC. SPARC testing is set to begin in a couple of years. At that time, we may then see another step toward unlimited energy because the longest pole in the tent has just been removed.
Source:
David Chandler, “Tests Show High-Temperature Superconducting Magnets are Ready for Fusion,” MIT News, 4 March 2024; accessed from https://news.mit.edu/2024/tests-show-high-temperature-superconducting-magnets-fusion-ready-0304
David Chandler, “MIT’s Superconducting Magnets are Ready for Fusion,” MIT Alumni News, May/June 2024.
Keith Hermanstyne, “Magnetic Field of a Lifting Electromagnet,” The Physics Factbook, 1999; accessed from https://hypertextbook.com/facts/1999/KeithHermanstyne.shtml#:~:text=One%20example%20of%20a%20lifting,is%20a%20strong%20magnetic%20field.
“Orders of Magnitude (Magnetic Field),” Wikipedia.
Photo: IEEE Spectrum
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