Faster fusion: ST40, engineering, commissioning, first results

Abstract

Spherical Tokamak (ST) path to Fusion has been proposed [1] and experiments on STs demonstrated feasibility of this approach. Advances in High Temperature Superconductor technology [2] allows significant increase in the toroidal field (TF) which was found to improve confinement in STs. The combination of the high normalised plasma pressure, β, which has been achieved in STs [3], and high TF that can be produced by HTS TF magnets, opens a path to lower-volume fusion reactors, in accordance with the fusion power scaling proportional to β2Bt4V. Modular approach then becomes an alternative to high power, GW-scale Fusion reactors [4,5]. Feasibility of low-power compact ST reactor module and physics and engineering challenges of the accelerated, ST path to Fusion Power are discussed in this paper, on example of the first our prototype on this route, high-field compact spherical tokamak ST40.Spherical Tokamak (ST) path to Fusion has been proposed [1] and experiments on STs demonstrated feasibility of this approach. Advances in High Temperature Superconductor technology [2] allows significant increase in the toroidal field (TF) which was found to improve confinement in STs. The combination of the high normalised plasma pressure, β, which has been achieved in STs [3], and high TF that can be produced by HTS TF magnets, opens a path to lower-volume fusion reactors, in accordance with the fusion power scaling proportional to β2Bt4V. Modular approach then becomes an alternative to high power, GW-scale Fusion reactors [4,5]. Feasibility of low-power compact ST reactor module and physics and engineering challenges of the accelerated, ST path to Fusion Power are discussed in this paper, on example of the first our prototype on this route, high-field compact spherical tokamak ST40.