A New Zealand start-up has achieved a significant milestone in nuclear fusion research by creating plasma, the first step towards harnessing this clean energy source. OpenStar, founded by Ratu Mataira, claims to have built and contained a plasma cloud at 300,000 degrees Celsius for 20 seconds using an unconventional reactor design. This breakthrough comes with several benefits, including faster scaling and commercialization compared to existing tokamak designs.
The OpenStar reactor uses a “levitating magnet” technology, which suspends the high-temperature superconducting magnet inside the plasma, contained within a vacuum chamber. This design allows for more efficient containment of the extremely hot plasma and potentially makes the process easier to modify. According to Mataira, building a tokamak is like building a ship in a bottle, as every design decision impacts other systems.
The achievement has garnered support from experts, including Dennis Whyte, professor at MIT, who calls it an exciting option for fusion research. However, commercialization of nuclear fusion remains far off, with estimates suggesting that six years of investment are needed to prove technical risks.
OpenStar’s research falls within New Zealand’s radiation safety laws and aims to provide a clean energy source without long-lived nuclear waste. The start-up has secured funding from local investors and plans to raise additional capital in 2025. While there is still significant time pressure, the potential benefits of fusion for decarbonization make it an attractive option.
Source: https://www.ft.com/content/69ac41e6-36ad-41b7-92f3-25198a338c0f