Novatron, a private fusion energy company, has made significant strides in the clean energy arena with its innovative technology. The company’s axisymmetric tandem mirror (ATM) design aims to achieve stable plasma confinement and is a significant step towards fusion power generation.
The Novatron reactor is built upon the concept of a magnetic mirror machine, which uses two large magnets to trap plasma fuel within a strong magnetic field. This approach has several appealing characteristics, including low cost, easy fueling, and continuous operation. Magnetic mirrors can produce high plasma pressure with relatively weak magnetic fields, making them more cost-effective.
However, traditional magnetic mirrors have two major drawbacks: they are prone to instabilities and have poor confinement time. The plasma tends to escape the trap, and the confinement time is limited, making it difficult to achieve fusion reactions.
Novatron tackles these challenges by developing the ATM, a novel design combining magnetic mirrors with biconic cusps. The integration of these concepts achieves both good confinement and inherent stability, overcoming key obstacles that have plagued traditional fusion approaches.
Computer simulations conducted using the WarpX platform have validated the stability of the ATM and demonstrated a remarkable improvement in energy confinement time. The company’s calculations indicate an energy confinement time improvement of a factor of 100 over traditional magnetic mirror machines.
Novatron plans to achieve full commercial fusion power in stages, with the final goal being a commercial fusion power plant design ready to provide power to the energy grid.
Source: https://interestingengineering.com/energy/new-fusion-reactor-design-novatron