Advancements in Superconducting Magnets Could Make Commercial Nuclear Fusion Economically Viable

Friday - March 29 2024, 04:16 UTC - 1 year ago

The recent development of REBCO, a high-temperature superconducting material, allows for more efficient and stable fusion reactions. A collaboration between the University of Texas at Austin and MIT led to the creation of a 20,000-pound magnet with a steady magnetic field of over 20 tesla, a record for fusion research. These advancements could make commercial nuclear fusion an economically viable source of clean energy.

Nuclear fusion, the process that powers the sun and other stars, has long been seen as the ultimate solution to our energy needs. Unlike traditional nuclear fission, fusion reactions produce clean energy without the risk of radioactive waste. However, the major challenge with fusion has always been achieving the extreme temperatures and pressures necessary to initiate and sustain the reaction.In the last few years, a breakthrough material known as REBCO, for rare-earth barium copper oxide, has revolutionized fusion magnet technology .

Unlike traditional low-temperature superconductors, REBCO can operate at 20 kelvins, significantly warmer than previous materials. This seemingly small difference in temperature brings significant advantages in terms of material properties and practical engineering.Taking advantage of this new higher-temperature superconducting material was not a simple task. Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin and MIT collaborated to design and build a new type of magnet that could harness the full potential of REBCO .

The result was a 20,000-pound magnet capable of producing a steady, even magnetic field of just over 20 tesla – a record-breaking achievement for fusion research.This magnet assembly is a smaller-scale version of the ones that will be used in the SPARC fusion device currently being constructed by the company Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS). The SPARC device, which is being built in Devens, Massachusetts, aims to finally demonstrate the feasibility of commercial nuclear fusion .

Its 16 magnet plates, known as pancakes, each have a spiral winding of REBCO superconducting tape on one side and cooling channels for helium gas on the other.The potential implications of these advancements in superconducting magnets for fusion are enormous. With the ability to produce higher magnetic fields at a lower cost and with greater stability, the efficiency of fusion reactions could be drastically improved .

This could finally make commercial nuclear fusion a viable source of clean, sustainable energy for our planet.