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Commonwealth Fusion Systems

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Commonwealth Fusion Systems
Company typePrivate
IndustryEnergy
Founded2018; 7 years ago (2018)
Headquarters
Cambridge, Massachusetts
,
US
Key people
Bob Mumgaard (CEO)[1]
Number of employees
350 (2022)
Websitecfs.energy

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) is an American company founded in 2018 aiming to build a compact fusion power plant based on the ARC tokamak power plant concept.[2] The company is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is a spin-off of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). CFS has participated in the United States Department of Energy’s INFUSE public-private knowledge innovation scheme, with several national labs and universities.[3]

History

CFS was founded in 2018 as a spin-off from the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center.[4] After initial funding of $50 million in 2018 from the Italian multinational Eni,[2] CFS closed its series A round of venture capital funding in 2019 with a total of US$ 115 million in funding from Eni,[5] Bill Gates's Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Vinod Khosla's Khosla Ventures, and others.[6][7] CFS raised an additional US$ 84 million in series A2 funding from Singapore's Temasek, Norway's Equinor, and Devonshire Investors, as well as from previous investors.[8] As of October 2020, CFS had approximately 100 employees.[9]

In September 2020, the company reported significant progress in the physics and engineering design of the SPARC tokamak,[1][10] and in October 2020, the development of a new high temperature superconducting cable, called VIPER.[11][12] Over the 9-month period from 2019 to 2020, the company purchased over 186 miles of the wire in 400-600 meter lengths from vendors, more than was produced by some vendors over the preceding 6 years.[13]

In March 2021, CFS announced plans to build a headquarters, manufacturing, and research campus (including the SPARC tokamak), in Devens, Massachusetts an hour west of Boston off of Rt 2.[14][15] Also in 2021, CEO Bob Mumgaard was appointed to the board of directors of the Fusion Industry Association, which was incorporated as a non profit association with a focus on combating climate change.[16]

In September 2021, the company announced the demonstration of a high temperature superconducting magnet, able to generate magnetic fields of 20 Tesla.[17][18] According to the New York Times, this was a successful test of "...the world's most powerful version of the type of magnet crucial to many fusion efforts..."[19]

In November 2021, the company raised an additional $1.8 billion in Series B funding to construct and operate the SPARC tokamak.[20] In December the company began construction on SPARC in Devens, Massachusetts.[21]

In March 2022, Axios reported that as a result of sanctions against Russia, CFS faced significant supply chain problems.[22]

By late 2022, CFS had grown to approximately 350 employees and was preparing to move into its Devens campus.[23]

Technology

SuperOx was able to produce over 186 miles of YBCO in 9 months for use in CFS' magnet.

CFS plans to focus on incorporating a large-bore, high-field (20 Tesla), yttrium barium copper oxide high-temperature superconducting magnet into a tokamak.[24][8] The magnet consists of 16 layers, each containing HTS winding. The D-shaped magnet weighed 10 tons and stood 8 feet tall, including 165 miles of tape. SPARC will include 18 similar magnets.[21]

CFS magnets use high temperature superconducting tape from a group of global suppliers.

SPARC is intended to demonstrate net-positive energy in a tokamak, paving the way for a multi-hundred MW electric ARC plant.[25][26][27] As of September 2021, SPARC was targeted for completion by 2025.[24] CFS also plans to build a power plant based on the ARC design.[2] Both SPARC and ARC plan to use deuterium-tritium fuel.

The company's VIPER cable can sustain higher electric currents and magnetic fields than previously possible.

The magnet technology used in SPARC is intended to give "the world a clear path to fusion power,"[28] according to the CFS CEO Bob Mumgaard.

CFS uses newly commercially available high-temperature superconductors to construct the magnets that will allow much stronger magnetic fields in a tokamak. These high-temperature superconductor magnets will allow a high field approach that will lead to CFS reaching net energy from fusion with a device that is much smaller, cheaper, and can be done much quicker.

Tokamaks work as donut-shaped devices that use magnets to manipulate and insulate the plasma where fusion occurs. SPARC is predicted to have a burning plasma, which would be the first time on earth. This would mean that the fusion process would be predominantly self-heating.[29] Nothing has achieved net energy from fusion but tokamaks have been the closest to net energy. Previous tokamaks used copper or low-temperature superconducting magnets that need to be large in size to create the magnetic field that is necessary to achieve net energy. The CFS high-temperature superconductor magnet is intended to create much stronger magnetic fields, allowing the tokamaks to be much smaller.[28]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Fountain, Henry (September 29, 2020). "Compact Nuclear Fusion Reactor Is 'Very Likely to Work,' Studies Suggest". New York Times. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Chandler, David (March 9, 2018). "MIT and newly formed company launch novel approach to fusion power". MIT News. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  3. ^ Laboratory, Princeton Plasma Physics (January 2, 2021). "Future Zero-Emissions Power Plants: Scientists Collaborate on Development of Commercial Fusion Energy". SciTechDaily. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  4. ^ Tollefson, Jeff (March 9, 2018). "MIT launches multimillion-dollar collaboration to develop fusion energy". Nature. Vol. 555, no. 7696. pp. 294–295. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-02966-3. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  5. ^ Devlin, Hannah (March 9, 2018). "Nuclear fusion on brink of being realised, say MIT scientists". The Guardian. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  6. ^ Rathi, Akshat (September 26, 2018). "In search of clean energy, investments in nuclear-fusion startups are heating up". Quartz. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  7. ^ "Commonwealth Fusion Systems Raises $115 Million and Closes Series A Round to Commercialize Fusion Energy". PR Newswire (Press release). June 27, 2019. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  8. ^ a b "Commonwealth Fusion Systems Raises $ 84 Million in A2 Round". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). May 26, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  9. ^ Aut, Kramer David (October 13, 2020). "Investments in privately funded fusion ventures grow". Physics Today. 2020 (2): 1013a. Bibcode:2020PhT..2020b1013.. doi:10.1063/PT.6.2.20201013a. S2CID 243181080.
  10. ^ "New Scientific Papers Predict Historic Results for Commonwealth Fusion Systems' Approach to Commercial Fusion Energy". Commonwealth Fusion Systems. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  11. ^ "New High-Temperature Superconductor (HTS) Cable Demonstrates High Performance". Commonwealth Fusion Systems. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  12. ^ "Superconductor technology for smaller, sooner fusion". MIT PSFC. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  13. ^ Molodyk, A., et al. "Development and large volume production of extremely high current density YBa2Cu3O7 superconducting wires for fusion." Scientific reports 11.1 (2021): 1-11.
  14. ^ Chesto, Jon (March 3, 2021). "MIT energy startup homes in on fusion, with plans for 47-acre site in Devens". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  15. ^ "Commonwealth Fusion Systems Selects 47-Acre Site in Devens, Mass., for Historic Commercial Fusion Energy Campus". Commonwealth Fusion Systems. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
  16. ^ "Fusion Industry Association Announces Independent Incorporation and Expansion". Yahoo! Finance. May 5, 2021. Archived from the original on September 16, 2021.
  17. ^ "MIT-designed project achieves major advance toward fusion energy". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  18. ^ "Commonwealth Fusion Systems creates viable path to commercial fusion power with world's strongest magnet". www.cfs.energy. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  19. ^ Reed, Stanley (October 18, 2021). "Nuclear Fusion Edges Toward the Mainstream". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  20. ^ "Nuclear-Fusion Startup Lands $1.8 Billion as Investors Chase Star Power". Wall Street Journal. December 1, 2021. Archived from the original on December 1, 2021.
  21. ^ a b Temple, James. "A hole in the ground could be the future of fusion power". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
  22. ^ "Scoop: Russia sanctions threaten Commonwealth's supply chain". March 21, 2022.
  23. ^ "Birthplace of a fusion industry? Commonwealth Fusion Systems prepares to open Devens campus | The Harvard Press | News | News Articles | The Harvard Press". webcache.googleusercontent.com. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  24. ^ a b Chandler, David (September 8, 2021). "MIT-designed project achieves major advance toward fusion energy". MIT. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
  25. ^ "A New Approach to Fusion Energy Starts Today | MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences". eapsweb.mit.edu. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  26. ^ Greenwald, Martin (2019). "Fusion Energy: Research at the Crossroads". Joule. 3 (5): 1175–1179. doi:10.1016/j.joule.2019.03.013.
  27. ^ Creely, A. J.; Greenwald, M. J.; Ballinger, S. B.; Brunner, D.; Canik, J.; Doody, J.; Fülöp, T.; Garnier, D. T.; Granetz, R.; Gray, T. K.; Holland, C. (2020). "Overview of the SPARC tokamak". Journal of Plasma Physics. 86 (5). Bibcode:2020JPlPh..86e8602C. doi:10.1017/S0022377820001257. ISSN 0022-3778.
  28. ^ a b "PR Newswire", Encyclopedia of Public Relations, Thousand Oaks, CA United States: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2005, doi:10.4135/9781412952545.n322, ISBN 9780761927334, retrieved April 28, 2022
  29. ^ "Nuclear Fusion Articles Based on Papers Presented at the 27th Fusion Energy Conference". Nuclear Fusion. 60 (7): 079801. June 12, 2020. Bibcode:2020NucFu..60g9801.. doi:10.1088/1741-4326/ab8cb6. ISSN 0029-5515. S2CID 241625548.
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