Tokamak Energy’s Demo4 magnet system can carry 12 million Amperes of electricity
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Fusion energy is the future of clean and sustainable energy. It is generated during a fusion reaction when two lighter atoms collide to form heavier ones and release energy. This energy is harnessed and used to generate electricity.
In recent decades, there have been numerous breakthroughs and research in fusion energy, and Tokamak Energy has just announced a new one, only two months after announcing a previous breakthrough.
At this week's international fusion energy conference, Symposium on Fusion Engineering (SOFE), Tokamak Energy announced the development of a superconducting magnet system called Demo4.
This magnet system will have an incredible 12 million Amperes (amp) of electricity running through its central column, which is four times greater than the current passing through the company's ST40 tokamak. To put it into perspective, it is 120,000 times more than the typical 100-amp electricity consumption of an average home in the UK.
High-temperature superconductivity
One of the main requirements of fusion reactors is strong magnetic fields that can control and confine the hot plasma in the reactor. Large amounts of current need to be passed to generate such large magnetic fields.
Superconductors offer zero resistance to electricity, making them an ideal choice for this use. However, they require very low temperatures, close to absolute zero (-273.15 degrees Celsius or -459.67 degrees Fahrenheit). The solution is to use certain materials that exhibit superconductivity at relatively higher temperatures (-196 degrees Celsius or -320.8 degrees Fahrenheit).
These materials, known as high-temperature superconductors (HTS), are crucial for fusion energy, and Tokamak Energy is a pioneer in creating HTS magnets.
Speaking of the development of the HTS magnets, Dr. Rod Bateman, who manages the HTS magnet development team at Tokamak Energy, previously said, "The breakthrough to enable a compact spherical tokamak was the development of HTS material which can operate in high magnetic fields.
Our co-founders, Dr. David Kingham and Professor Mikhail Gryaznevich, were among the first pioneers to identify the opportunity to apply this technology to fusion energy – replacing copper magnets. We have tested this technology successfully in one of our early devices, ST25-HTS, and then decided to develop, in parallel to our spherical tokamak program, a dedicated magnet program."
These HTS magnets generate strong magnetic fields that confine and control the plasma, facilitating higher pressures and temperatures necessary for fusion reactions. Additionally, HTS magnets require less cooling power, simplifying cooling systems and reducing the costs in fusion energy reactors.
The Demo4 system
Tokamak Energy is developing the Demo4 magnet system to replicate the magnetic fields required for fusion power plants. The plasma in the reactor cores can reach temperatures more than the center of the Sun (~15 million degrees Celsius or 27 million degrees Fahrenheit).
By creating strong magnetic forces, Tokamak Energy aims to test fusion power plant-relevant scenarios for the first time.
The Demo4 system consists of 44 magnetic coils made of HTS tape. The system will operate in a vacuum at an extremely low temperature of minus 253 degrees Celsius (-423.4 degrees Fahrenheit), achieved by closed-cycle cryocoolers.
Ahead of a comprehensive overview of Demo4 presented at SOFE, Graham Dunbar, the Technical Lead at Tokamak Energy, mentioned that the Demo4 system will be a completely balanced set of magnets shaped in a tokamak configuration. The 18 Tesla system will be nearly a million times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field.
"Demo4 will be a completely balanced set of magnets shaped in a tokamak configuration. Importantly, it will allow us to create substantial magnetic forces and test them in fusion power plant-relevant scenarios for the first time. The learnings from this unique system will push forward our understanding of the technology required to deliver clean, secure, and affordable fusion power in the 2030s," he explained.
The Demo4 system will be assembled and tested in 2024 at Tokamak Energy's Milton Park, UK headquarters.
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