Read the full article by Amy Sprague on the UW Aeronautics & Astronautics departmental page. Start reading below…
Investment in fusion energy, including in A&A’s research and spinoffs, is taking off with advances in computing.
In the last few years, investment in a fusion energy future has taken off. Everett-based Helion recently announced a $500 million round of investment with the potential for $1.7 billion more. Our own A&A spinoff Zap Energy landed close to $200 million, and our A&A fusion labs have received over $5 million of funding over the past two years. And while fusion energy has been decades in development, the current moment is offering vast advancements in computing power, which is finally robust enough to run the modeling needed to figure out the last sticky issues with sustaining a fusion reaction long enough for meaningful power production. And A&A is providing key research to make this sustainable energy future come as quickly as possible.
A&A’s is pursuing two different approaches to compact, cost-effective fusion energy. As plasmas need to be formed in specific shapes to stably undergo sustained fusion, each lab’s strategy involves a different shape and device for the magnetic fields and confined plasma. The HIT-SI Lab, led by Senior Research Scientist Chris Hansen, takes advantage of the natural property of plasmas to self-organize and uses Imposed-Dynamo Current Drive to keep it going in a spheromak. In contrast, the Flow Z-Pinch Lab, led by Professor Uri Shumlak, forms and compresses plasma in a 50-cm long column, the Z-pinch, with plasma flowing along its length, which, in turn, stabilizes it.
Though A&A’s approaches through a spheromak and a Z-pinch can lead to cost-competitive commercialization, further advances are needed. Fusion energy, the power source of the sun, is, to say the least, difficult to achieve. Plasmas need to reach temperatures over 100 million degrees Celsius, which makes confining and stabilizing them extremely challenging. Plasmas cool down quickly unless continuously heated and must be extremely well insulated to maintain fusion conditions. Both strategies use magnetic fields for the plasmas and keep them from touching the walls of the reactor.
