Indeed, the papers don't confirm the ARC fusion power plant design is done and fully proved out — but they do confirm the hardest part, the physics, is solid. That's the foundation for the whole enterprise.
As with many things in fusion energy, I hadn't fully appreciated the importance of diagnostics until I started digging in. Diagnostic systems gather visible and invisible information so you can understand your plasma characteristics like temperature and density that are difficult to infer. 🧵 1/3
Stephen Shankland
Stephen Shankland
I learned a ton reading these papers, talking to the authors, and writing up a blog post about them. Three of these papers deal with the biggest plasma physics challenges we'll encounter.
Fond memories of this moment in New Hampshire.
In fusion energy, everything starts with the plasma physics. These five papers lay the foundation for our ARC fusion power plant. 58 authors, 226 pages, and the physics checks out.
#FusionEnergy
Does time spent on word puzzles count toward the kid's daily reading requirement?
Note to fusion skeptics: Sure, it's hard. We get it. In fact, we probably understand the difficulties in way more detail than you do, no offense. But these papers tackle the hardest physics problems head on: disruptions, heat exhaust, plasma stability.
Here's a blog post I wrote about fusion diagnostics, including some interesting historical anecdotes showing successes and flops. 🧵 2/3
blog.cfs.energy/diagnostics-...
#FusionEnergy
We have scads of experts at @cfs.energy, but strong plasma physics is the first challenge we have to tackle to build a functioning fusion power plant.
Now we've taken our next physics step by publishing 5 peer-reviewed papers on the ARC fusion power plant's physics basis.
#PowerMoves #FusionEnergy
For our SPARC fusion demonstration machine, @cfs.energy will use a healthy collection of diagnostic equipment so we can run the machine and then credibly claim we've produced net fusion energy, aka Q>1. 🧵 2/3
