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General Fusion

January 15, 2023

General Fusion is a Canadian company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, which is developing a fusion power device based on magnetized target fusion (MTF). The company was founded in 2002 by Dr. Michel Laberge. The company has more than 200 employees in three countries, with additional centers co-located with fusion research laboratories near London, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee, US.

General Fusion
TypePrivately held company
IndustryFusion power
Founded2002; 21 years ago (2002)
FounderMichel Laberge
Headquarters
Vancouver, British Columbia
,
Canada
Number of employees
c. 200
Websitegeneralfusion.com

The device under development injects the magnetized target, a plasma mass in the form of a compact toroid, into a cylinder of spinning liquid metal. The target is mechanically compressed to fusion-relevant densities and pressures, by anywhere from a dozen to hundreds (in various designs) of steam-driven pistons.[1][2][3]

In 2018, the firm published papers on a spherical tokamak, instead of a toroid. It is unclear if this represents a major design change.[4] In June 2021, the company announced it would build 70% of a full scale fusion demonstration plant in the UK as part of a public-private partnership with the UK Government.[5]

Organization

General Fusion's management team has expertise in technology program development, fusion engineering and science, and product commercialization.

General Fusion's CEO is Greg Twinney, CTO is Ryan Guerrero, and SVP is Michael Cappello.

Michel Laberge, Chief Science Officer, holds multiple responsibilities at General Fusion, including building partnerships with international research institutions, and overseeing partnerships with governments and other companies, and technology development strategy. He earned a PhD in physics from the University of British Columbia in 1990, and completed research at the École Polytechnique and the National Research Council of Canada. Before founding General Fusion, Laberge worked as a senior physicist and principal engineer at Creo Products for nine years.[6] He cofounded residential demand response technology company Energate, Inc. He also worked as a design engineer on robotic systems for the International Space Station (ISS).[6]

The board of directors is chaired by Klaas De Boer, who currently chairs AIM-listed Xeros Technology Group and serves on the Boards of SmartKem and vasopharm.

Technology

 
Diagram of the General Fusion power plant

General Fusion's magnetized target fusion system uses a ~3 meter sphere filled with a mix of molten liquid lead and lithium. The liquid is spun, creating a vertical cavity in the centre of the sphere. This vortex flow is established and maintained by an external pumping system; liquid flows into the sphere through tangentially directed ports at the equator and exits radially through ports near the poles of the sphere.[7]

A plasma injector is attached to the top of the sphere, from which a pulse of magnetically confined deuterium-tritium plasma fuel is injected into the center of the vortex. A few milligrams of gas are used per pulse. The gas is ionized by a bank of capacitors to form a spheromak plasma (self-confined magnetized plasma rings) composed of the deuterium–tritium fuel.[8][9]

The outside of the sphere is covered with steam pistons, which push the liquid metal and collapse the vortex, thereby compressing the plasma. The compression increases the density and temperature of the plasma to the range where the fuel atoms fuse, releasing energy in the form of fast neutrons and alpha particles.[9]

 
Pistons for plasma compression

This energy heats the liquid metal, which is then pumped through a heat exchanger to generate electricity via a steam turbine. The plasma forming and compressing process repeats and the liquid metal is continuously pumped through the system. Some of the steam is recycled to power the pistons.[10][7]

In addition to its role in compressing the plasma, the liquid metal liner shields the power plant structure from neutrons released by the deuterium-tritium fusion reaction, overcoming the problem of structural damage to plasma-facing materials.[11][7] The lithium in the mixture breeds tritium.[7][12]

Linus

Main article: Linus (fusion experiment)
 
Plasma injector

General Fusion's approach is based on the Linus concept developed by the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) beginning in 1972.[13][14][15] Researchers at NRL suggested an approach that retains many of the advantages of liner compression to achieve small-scale, high-energy-density fusion.[16]

In the Linus concept, a rotating liquid lithium liner is imploded mechanically, using high pressure helium as the energy source. The liner acts as a cylindrical piston to compress a magnetically confined plasma adiabatically to fusion temperature and relatively high density (~1017 ions.cm−3).[13] In the subsequent expansion the plasma energy and the fusion energy carried by trapped alpha particles is directly recovered, making the mechanical cycle self-sustaining.[13]

The liquid metal acts as both a compression mechanism and heat transfer mechanism, allowing the energy from the fusion reaction to be captured as heat.[13] Linus researchers anticipated that the liner could also be used to breed tritium fuel for the power plant, and would protect the machine from high-energy neutrons.[13]

According to Laberge, Linus could not properly time the compression using the technology of the era. Faster computers provide the required timing.[17][15] However, various Linus devices with no timing constraints, including systems using single pistons, were built during the experimental runs during the 1970s and demonstrated fully reversible compression strokes.[18]

History

The firm was founded in 2002 by former Creo Products senior physicist and principal engineer Michel Laberge.[19]

In 2005 it produced a fusion reaction in its first MTF prototype. In 2010, ir produced its first at-scale plasma injector with magnetically confined plasma. In 2011 it first demonstrated compressive heating of magnetized plasma. In 2013 it created plasmas compatible with compression heating.[20]

A proof-of-concept prototype compression system was constructed in 2013 with 14 full size pistons around 1 meter diameter spherical compression chamber to demonstrate pneumatic compression and collapse of a liquid metal vortex.[21][22]

Circa 2013, pneumatic pistons were used to create a converging spherical wave to compress the plasma. Each system consisted of a 100 kg, 30 cm diameter hammer piston driven down a 1 m long bore by compressed air.[22][9] The hammer piston struck an anvil at the end of the bore, generating a large amplitude acoustic pulse that was transmitted to the liquid metal in the compression chamber.[22] To create a spherical wave, the timing of these strikes had to be controlled to within 10 µs. The firm recorded sequences of consecutive shots with impact velocities of 50 m/s and timing synchronized within 2 µs.[22]

From its inception until 2016, the firm built more than a dozen plasma injectors.[23] These include large two-stage injectors with formation and magnetic acceleration sections (dubbed "PI" experiments), and three generations of smaller, single-stage formation-only injectors (MRT, PROSPECTOR and SPECTOR).[24] The firm published research demonstrating SPECTOR lifespans of up to 2 milliseconds and temperatures in excess of 400 eV.[24]

As of 2016, the firm had developed the power plant's subsystems, including plasma injectors and compression driver technology.[25] Patents were awarded in 2006 for a fusion energy reactor design,[26] and enabling technologies such as plasma accelerators (2015),[27] methods for creating liquid metal vortexes (2016)[28] and lithium evaporators (2016).[29]

In 2016 the GF design used compact toroid plasmas formed by a coaxial Marshal gun (a type of plasma railgun), with magnetic fields supported by internal plasma currents and eddy currents in the flux conserver wall.[30] In 2016, the firm reported plasma lifetimes up to 2 milliseconds and electron temperatures in excess of 400 eV (4,800,000 °C).[24]

As of December 2017, the PI3 plasma injector held the title as the world's most powerful plasma injector, ten times more powerful than its predecessor.[31] The device used a 15 tonne liquid lead reservoir, pumped at 100 kg/s to form a vortex inside a 1-meter diameter spherical compression chamber.[21][22] It also achieved stable compression of plasma.[20]

In 2019 it successfully confined plasma within its liquid metal cavity. From 2019-2021 it increased plasma performance.

As of 2021, the firm had approximately 140 employees[32] and had raised over C$150 million in funding from a global syndicate of investors.[33][34] It demonstrated compression of its liquid cavity into a controlled, symmetrical shape.[20]

Also in 2021 the company agreed to build a demonstration plant in Oxfordshire, at Culham, the center of the UK's nuclear R&D. The plant is planned to be 70% of the size of a commercial power plant. The company claimed it had validated all the individual components for the demonstration reactor.[35]

In 2022, the company announced that it had demonstrated plasma energy confinement times, plasma temperatures, and compression system performance. It also claimed that it had completed 200,000+ plasma shots, filed 150 patents/patents pending, and that headcount had passed 200. PI3 reached 10 ms confinement times and temperatures of 250 eV, almost 3 million degrees Celsius, without active magnetic stabilization, auxiliary heating, or a conventional divertor. Its primary compression prototype has completed over 1,000 shots, behaving as predicted.[20]

Research collaborations

  • Microsoft: In May 2017 General Fusion and Microsoft announced a collaboration to develop a data science platform based on Microsoft's Azure cloud computing system. A second phase of the project was to apply machine learning to the data, with the goal of discovering insights into the behavior of high temperature plasmas. The new computational program would enable General Fusion to mine over 100 terabytes of data from the records of over 150,000 experiments. It was to use this data to optimize the designs of their fusion system's plasma injector, piston array, and fuel chamber. During this collaboration, the Microsoft Develop Experience Team was to contribute their experience and resources in machine learning, data management, and cloud computing.[36]
  • Los Alamos National Laboratory: General Fusion entered a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory for magnetized target fusion research.[37]
  • McGill University: In 2017 McGill University and General Fusion acquired an Engage Grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to study General Fusion's technology. Specifically, the project was to use McGill's diagnostic abilities to develop techniques to understand the behavior of the liquid metal wall during plasma compression and how it might affect the plasma.[38]
  • Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory: In 2016 the two created an MHD simulation of compression during MTF experiments[39]
  • Queen Mary University of London: In 2015 General Fusion funded a research study on high fidelity simulations of non-linear sound propagation in multiphase media of nuclear fusion reactor pursued using QMUL CLithium and Y codes.[40]
  • Hatch Ltd: General Fusion and Hatch Ltd. joined in 2015 to create a fusion energy demonstration system. The project aimed to construct and demonstrate, at power plant scale, the primary subsystems and physics underpinning General Fusion's technology, including their proprietary Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) technology. Simulation models will be used to verify that this fusion energy system is commercially and technically viable at scale.[25]
  • Culham Centre for Fusion Energy: In June 2021, General Fusion announced it would accept the UK government's offer to host the world's first substantial public-private partnership fusion demonstration plant, at Culham. The plant will be constructed from 2022 to 2025 and is intended to lead the way for commercial pilot plants in the late 2020s or early 2030s. The plant will be 70% of full scale and is expected to attain a stable plasma of 150 million degrees using deuterium fuel.[41][42] In October 2022 the UKAEA and General Fusion elaborated on the nature of their partnership, stating that it will "harness UKAEA’s extensive neutron modelling software and expertise to simulate the neutron flux distribution from General Fusion’s operational large-scale plasma injector", including by building a new, larger Thomson scattering system for General Fusion’s demonstration machine.[43]

Funding

As of 2021, General Fusion had received $430 million in funding.[42][44]

Rounds

Investors included Chrysalix venture capital, the Business Development Bank of Canada—a Canadian federal Crown corporation, Bezos Expeditions, Cenovus Energy, Pender Ventures, Khazanah Nasional—a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, and Sustainable Development Technology Canada (STDC).[45]

Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, a Vancouver-based venture capital firm, led a C$1.2 million seed round of financing in 2007.[2][46][47] Other Canadian venture capital firms that participated in the seed round were GrowthWorks Capital and BDC Venture Capital.

In 2009, a consortium led by General Fusion was awarded C$13.9 million by SDTC to conduct a four-year research project on "Acoustically Driven Magnetized Target Fusion";[48] SDTC is a foundation established by the Canadian government.[49] The other member of the consortium is Los Alamos National Laboratory.[48]

A 2011 Series B round raised $19.5 million from a syndicate including Bezos Expeditions, Braemar Energy Ventures, Business Development Bank of Canada, Cenovus Energy, Chrysalix Venture Capital, Entrepreneurs Fund, and Pender Ventures.[50][51]

In May 2015 the government of Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, led a $27 million funding round.[52]

SDTC awarded General Fusion a further C$12.75 million in March 2016 to for the project "Demonstration of fusion energy technology" in a consortium with McGill University (Shock Wave Physics Group) and Hatch Ltd.[25]

In October 2018 Canadian Minister for Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Navdeep Bains, announced that the Canadian government's Strategic Innovation Fund would invest C$49.3 million in General Fusion.[34]

In December 2019, General Fusion raised $65 million in Series E equity financing from Singapore's Temasek Holdings, Bezos and Chrisalix, concurrently with another $38 million from Canada's Strategic Innovation Fund. The firm said the funds would permit it to begin the design, construction, and operation of its Fusion Demonstration Plant.[53][54]

In January 2021, the company announced funding by Shopify founder Tobias Lütke's Thistledown Capital.[55]

In November 2021, the company completed an over-subscribed $130M Series E round. Investors included Bezos, Business Development Bank of Canada, hedge fund Segra Capital Management and family-office investors. Funds were to be dedicated to constructing a commercial reactor.[44]

Crowdsourced innovations

Beginning in 2015, the firm conducted three crowdsourcing challenges through Waltham, Massachusetts-based firm Innocentive.[56]

The first challenge was Method for Sealing Anvil Under Repetitive Impacts Against Molten Metal.[56] General Fusion successfully sourced a solution for "robust seal technology" capable of withstanding extreme temperatures and repetitive hammering, so as to isolate the rams from the liquid metal that fills the sphere. The firm awarded Kirby Meacham, an MIT-trained mechanical engineer from Cleveland, Ohio, the $20,000 prize.[57]

A second challenge, Data-Driven Prediction of Plasma Performance, began in December 2015 with the aim of identifying patterns in the firm's experimental data that would allow it to further improve the performance of its plasma.[58]

The third challenge ran in March 2016, seeking a method to induce a substantial current to jump a 5–10 cm gap within a few hundred microseconds, and was titled "Fast Current Switch in Plasma Device".[59] A prize of $5,000 was awarded to a post-doctoral researcher at Notre Dame.[60]

See also

References

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  2. ^ a b Hamilton, Tyler (20 April 2009). "Looking for a net gain in the energy sector". Toronto Star.
  3. ^ VanderKlippe, Nathan (16 November 2007). . Financial Post. Archived from the original on 26 October 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  4. ^ Laberge, Michel (14 August 2018). "Magnetized Target Fusion with a Spherical Tokamak". Journal of Fusion Energy. 38: 199–203. doi:10.1007/s10894-018-0180-3. S2CID 125279953.
  5. ^ "Nuclear energy: Fusion plant backed by Jeff Bezos to be built in UK". BBC News. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
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  8. ^ "Magnetic Compression and Stability of Spheromaks". Mitacs. 17 November 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  9. ^ a b c Gibbs, Wayt (18 October 2016). "Can Small Fusion Energy Start-Ups Conquer the Problems That Killed the Giants?". Scientific American. 315 (5): 38–45. Bibcode:2016SciAm.315e..38G. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1116-38. PMID 27918497.
  10. ^ Hamilton, Tyler (31 July 2009). "A New Approach to Fusion". MIT Technology Review. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  11. ^ Clinard, Frank (1975). "First wall materials problems in fusion reactors". Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. 12: 510. doi:10.1116/1.568576.
  12. ^ Grossman, Lev (October 2015). "Inside the Quest for Fusion, Clean Energy's Holy Grail". Time.
  13. ^ a b c d e Robson, A. E. (1980). "A Conceptual Design for an Imploding-Liner Fusion Reactor". Megagauss Physics and Technology. Springer US. pp. 425–436. ISBN 978-1-4684-1050-1.
  14. ^ Clery, Daniel (2014). "Fusion's Restless Pioneers". Science. 345 (6195): 370–375. Bibcode:2014Sci...345..370C. doi:10.1126/science.345.6195.370. PMID 25061186.
  15. ^ a b Cartwright, Jon. "An Independent Endeavour". Physics World. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  16. ^ Siemon, R.; Peterson; Ryutov, D. (1999). The relevance of Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) to practical energy production (PDF). Los Alamos National Laboratories.
  17. ^ Frochtzwajg, Jonathan (28 April 2016). "The secretive, billionaire-backed plans to harness fusion". Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  18. ^ Turchi, Peter; Frese, Sherry; Frese, Michael (10 October 2017). "Stabilized Liner Compressor for Low-Cost Controlled Fusion at Megagauss Field Levels". IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science. 45 (10): 2800–2809. Bibcode:2017ITPS...45.2800T. doi:10.1109/TPS.2017.2702625. S2CID 30191919.
  19. ^ "PSFC Seminar: Acoustically-Driven Magnetized Target Fusion at General Fusion". MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center. MIT. 18 December 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  20. ^ a b c d "General Fusion exceeds core technology performance targets with plasma and compression prototypes". www.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  21. ^ a b "General Fusion Developing World's First Commercially Viable Fusion Power Plant for Clean Energy ·". ANSYS. 31 March 2017. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  22. ^ a b c d e Laberge, M.; Howard, S.; Richardson, D.; Froese, A.; Suponitsky, V.; Reynolds, M.; Plant, D. (2013). Acoustically driven Magnetized Target Fusion. IEEE 25th Symposium on Fusion Engineering. pp. 1–7. doi:10.1109/SOFE.2013.6635495. ISBN 978-1-4799-0171-5. S2CID 31681949.
  23. ^ Ambreen, Ali (December 2016). . PM Network. Archived from the original on 12 December 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  24. ^ a b c Peter O’Shea, Michel Laberge, Mike Donaldson, Michael Delage "Acoustically Driven Magnetized Target Fusion at General Fusion: An Overview" 18 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine Poster presented at the 58th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics 31 October – 4 November 2016. San Jose, California. CP10.00103
  25. ^ a b c "Demonstration of fusion energy technology - clean energy". Sustainable Development Technology Canada. 19 September 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  26. ^ "Magnetized plasma fusion reactor". European Patent Office. 7 September 2006. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  27. ^ WO 2014032186, "Apparatus for Accelerating and compressing Plasma", published 2014-03-06 
  28. ^ WO 2016112464, "Apparatus and Method for Generating a Vortex Cavity in a Rotating Fluid", published 2016-07-21 
  29. ^ "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EVAPORATING A METAL". European Patent Office. 12 May 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  30. ^ Russ Ivanov, Patrick Carle, Neil Carter, Ken Jensen, Stephen Howard, Michel Laberge, Alex Mossman, Peter O’Shea, Adrian Wong, William Young "SPECTOR 1 Plasma as a Target for Adiabatic Compression 15 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine" Poster presented at the 58th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics 31 October – 4 November 2016. San Jose, California. CP10.00106
  31. ^ "World's largest plasma injector brings commercial fusion energy a step closer". General Fusion. General Fusion, Inc. 21 December 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  32. ^ Orton, Tyler (17 June 2021). "General Fusion draws closer to commercialization, taps U.K. site for demo plant". Business in Vancouver. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  33. ^ Dawes, Terry (28 November 2016). "General Fusion to outline clean energy future for Ottawa natural resource committee". Cantech Letter. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  34. ^ a b Boyle, Alan (26 October 2018). "Canadian government invests $38M in General Fusion to boost energy research". Geekwire. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  35. ^ Patel, Prachi (13 August 2021). "General Fusion Takes Aim at Practical Fusion Power". IEEE Spectrum. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  36. ^ "General Fusion, Microsoft team up on data analysis". world-nuclear-news.org. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  37. ^ Stewart, John (21 January 2015). "Innovations we need - Now, and for generations". Talk Nuclear. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  38. ^ "Burnaby-based General Fusion Inc. Forms Research Partnership With McGill University". T-Net. T-Net British Columbia. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  39. ^ Reynolds, Meritt; Froese, Aaron; Barsky, Sandra; Devietien, Peter; Toth, Gabor; Brennan, Dylan; Hooper, Bick (31 October 2016). "Simulation of MTF experiments at General Fusion". Bulletin of the American Physical Society. 61 (18): CP10.108. Bibcode:2016APS..DPPC10108R.
  40. ^ Lockwood, David. "Staff: Research Projects: Dr Eldad Avital: School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London". sems.qmul.ac.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  41. ^ "A Historic Decision: To Demonstrate Practical Fusion at Culham". General Fusion. 16 June 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  42. ^ a b Clery, Daniel (16 June 2021). "Plans unveiled for private U.K. fusion reactor powered by 'smoke rings' and pneumatic pistons". Science | AAAS. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  43. ^ "General Fusion and UKAEA outline further fusion collaboration : New Nuclear - World Nuclear News". world-nuclear-news.org. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  44. ^ a b Wade, Will (30 November 2021). "Bezos-Backed General Fusion Raises $130 Million for Reactor". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  45. ^ "General Fusion's Team, Investors and Research Partners". General Fusion. General Fusion. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  46. ^ Kanellos, Michael. "More money for fusion energy". CNET. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  47. ^ Chrysalix is funded by a number of investors including several energy firms; its investors are listed on "Chrysalix' website" 10 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  48. ^ a b "Acoustically Driven Magnetized Fusion". SDTC. 2008. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  49. ^ "Media Backgrounder: Sustainable Development Technology Canada". SDTC website. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
  50. ^ "Fusion lightweight gets a boost from heavyweight investors". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  51. ^ O'Connor, Clare. "Amazon Billionaire Bezos Backs Nuclear Fusion In $19.5 Million Round". Forbes. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  52. ^ "General Fusion raises another $27 million to advance its reactor". Canadian Business - Your Source For Business News. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  53. ^ "General Fusion Closes $65M of Series E Financing". Global Newswire. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  54. ^ "Bezos-Backed Fusion Startup Raises $100 Million for Demo System". Financial Post. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  55. ^ "Nuclear fusion tech developer General Fusion now has Shopify and Amazon founders backing it". TechCrunch. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  56. ^ a b "General Fusion Challenge: Method for Sealing Anvil Under Repetitive Impacts Against Molten Metal". InnoCentive. Wazoku. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  57. ^ "General Fusion Announces Winner of $20,000 Crowdsourced Engineering Challenge". T-Net. T-Net British Columbia. 17 August 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  58. ^ "General Fusion Challenge: Data-Driven Prediction of Plasma Performance". InnoCentive. Wazoku. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  59. ^ "General Fusion Challenge: Fast Current Switch in Plasma Device". InnoCentive. Wazoku. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  60. ^ Cassidy, Brendan (8 December 2016). "Five Things to Consider Before You Enlist the Crowd". Retrieved 17 January 2017.

Readings

  • Kanellos, Michael (8 September 2009). "A Guide to New Nuclear". Greentech Media. Wood Mackenzie Business. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  • Harris, Richard (9 November 2011). "'Power for the Planet': Company Bets Big on Fusion". NPR.
  • Waldrop, M. Mitchell (23 July 2014). "Nature News Feature: Plasma Physics: The fusion upstarts". Nature. 511 (7510): 398–400. doi:10.1038/511398a. PMID 25056045. S2CID 4468596.

External links

  • Official website
  • "General Fusion - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2 January 2023.

January 15, 2023
general, fusion, canadian, company, based, vancouver, british, columbia, which, developing, fusion, power, device, based, magnetized, target, fusion, company, founded, 2002, michel, laberge, company, more, than, employees, three, countries, with, additional, c. General Fusion is a Canadian company based in Vancouver British Columbia which is developing a fusion power device based on magnetized target fusion MTF The company was founded in 2002 by Dr Michel Laberge The company has more than 200 employees in three countries with additional centers co located with fusion research laboratories near London and Oak Ridge Tennessee US General FusionTypePrivately held companyIndustryFusion powerFounded2002 21 years ago 2002 FounderMichel LabergeHeadquartersVancouver British Columbia CanadaNumber of employeesc 200Websitegeneralfusion wbr comThe device under development injects the magnetized target a plasma mass in the form of a compact toroid into a cylinder of spinning liquid metal The target is mechanically compressed to fusion relevant densities and pressures by anywhere from a dozen to hundreds in various designs of steam driven pistons 1 2 3 In 2018 the firm published papers on a spherical tokamak instead of a toroid It is unclear if this represents a major design change 4 In June 2021 the company announced it would build 70 of a full scale fusion demonstration plant in the UK as part of a public private partnership with the UK Government 5 Contents 1 Organization 2 Technology 2 1 Linus 3 History 4 Research collaborations 5 Funding 5 1 Rounds 6 Crowdsourced innovations 7 See also 8 References 9 Readings 10 External linksOrganization EditGeneral Fusion s management team has expertise in technology program development fusion engineering and science and product commercialization General Fusion s CEO is Greg Twinney CTO is Ryan Guerrero and SVP is Michael Cappello Michel Laberge Chief Science Officer holds multiple responsibilities at General Fusion including building partnerships with international research institutions and overseeing partnerships with governments and other companies and technology development strategy He earned a PhD in physics from the University of British Columbia in 1990 and completed research at the Ecole Polytechnique and the National Research Council of Canada Before founding General Fusion Laberge worked as a senior physicist and principal engineer at Creo Products for nine years 6 He cofounded residential demand response technology company Energate Inc He also worked as a design engineer on robotic systems for the International Space Station ISS 6 The board of directors is chaired by Klaas De Boer who currently chairs AIM listed Xeros Technology Group and serves on the Boards of SmartKem and vasopharm Technology Edit Diagram of the General Fusion power plant General Fusion s magnetized target fusion system uses a 3 meter sphere filled with a mix of molten liquid lead and lithium The liquid is spun creating a vertical cavity in the centre of the sphere This vortex flow is established and maintained by an external pumping system liquid flows into the sphere through tangentially directed ports at the equator and exits radially through ports near the poles of the sphere 7 A plasma injector is attached to the top of the sphere from which a pulse of magnetically confined deuterium tritium plasma fuel is injected into the center of the vortex A few milligrams of gas are used per pulse The gas is ionized by a bank of capacitors to form a spheromak plasma self confined magnetized plasma rings composed of the deuterium tritium fuel 8 9 The outside of the sphere is covered with steam pistons which push the liquid metal and collapse the vortex thereby compressing the plasma The compression increases the density and temperature of the plasma to the range where the fuel atoms fuse releasing energy in the form of fast neutrons and alpha particles 9 Pistons for plasma compressionThis energy heats the liquid metal which is then pumped through a heat exchanger to generate electricity via a steam turbine The plasma forming and compressing process repeats and the liquid metal is continuously pumped through the system Some of the steam is recycled to power the pistons 10 7 In addition to its role in compressing the plasma the liquid metal liner shields the power plant structure from neutrons released by the deuterium tritium fusion reaction overcoming the problem of structural damage to plasma facing materials 11 7 The lithium in the mixture breeds tritium 7 12 Linus Edit Main article Linus fusion experiment Plasma injector General Fusion s approach is based on the Linus concept developed by the United States Naval Research Laboratory NRL beginning in 1972 13 14 15 Researchers at NRL suggested an approach that retains many of the advantages of liner compression to achieve small scale high energy density fusion 16 In the Linus concept a rotating liquid lithium liner is imploded mechanically using high pressure helium as the energy source The liner acts as a cylindrical piston to compress a magnetically confined plasma adiabatically to fusion temperature and relatively high density 1017 ions cm 3 13 In the subsequent expansion the plasma energy and the fusion energy carried by trapped alpha particles is directly recovered making the mechanical cycle self sustaining 13 The liquid metal acts as both a compression mechanism and heat transfer mechanism allowing the energy from the fusion reaction to be captured as heat 13 Linus researchers anticipated that the liner could also be used to breed tritium fuel for the power plant and would protect the machine from high energy neutrons 13 According to Laberge Linus could not properly time the compression using the technology of the era Faster computers provide the required timing 17 15 However various Linus devices with no timing constraints including systems using single pistons were built during the experimental runs during the 1970s and demonstrated fully reversible compression strokes 18 History EditThe firm was founded in 2002 by former Creo Products senior physicist and principal engineer Michel Laberge 19 In 2005 it produced a fusion reaction in its first MTF prototype In 2010 ir produced its first at scale plasma injector with magnetically confined plasma In 2011 it first demonstrated compressive heating of magnetized plasma In 2013 it created plasmas compatible with compression heating 20 A proof of concept prototype compression system was constructed in 2013 with 14 full size pistons around 1 meter diameter spherical compression chamber to demonstrate pneumatic compression and collapse of a liquid metal vortex 21 22 Circa 2013 pneumatic pistons were used to create a converging spherical wave to compress the plasma Each system consisted of a 100 kg 30 cm diameter hammer piston driven down a 1 m long bore by compressed air 22 9 The hammer piston struck an anvil at the end of the bore generating a large amplitude acoustic pulse that was transmitted to the liquid metal in the compression chamber 22 To create a spherical wave the timing of these strikes had to be controlled to within 10 µs The firm recorded sequences of consecutive shots with impact velocities of 50 m s and timing synchronized within 2 µs 22 From its inception until 2016 the firm built more than a dozen plasma injectors 23 These include large two stage injectors with formation and magnetic acceleration sections dubbed PI experiments and three generations of smaller single stage formation only injectors MRT PROSPECTOR and SPECTOR 24 The firm published research demonstrating SPECTOR lifespans of up to 2 milliseconds and temperatures in excess of 400 eV 24 As of 2016 the firm had developed the power plant s subsystems including plasma injectors and compression driver technology 25 Patents were awarded in 2006 for a fusion energy reactor design 26 and enabling technologies such as plasma accelerators 2015 27 methods for creating liquid metal vortexes 2016 28 and lithium evaporators 2016 29 In 2016 the GF design used compact toroid plasmas formed by a coaxial Marshal gun a type of plasma railgun with magnetic fields supported by internal plasma currents and eddy currents in the flux conserver wall 30 In 2016 the firm reported plasma lifetimes up to 2 milliseconds and electron temperatures in excess of 400 eV 4 800 000 C 24 As of December 2017 update the PI3 plasma injector held the title as the world s most powerful plasma injector ten times more powerful than its predecessor 31 The device used a 15 tonne liquid lead reservoir pumped at 100 kg s to form a vortex inside a 1 meter diameter spherical compression chamber 21 22 It also achieved stable compression of plasma 20 In 2019 it successfully confined plasma within its liquid metal cavity From 2019 2021 it increased plasma performance As of 2021 the firm had approximately 140 employees 32 and had raised over C 150 million in funding from a global syndicate of investors 33 34 It demonstrated compression of its liquid cavity into a controlled symmetrical shape 20 Also in 2021 the company agreed to build a demonstration plant in Oxfordshire at Culham the center of the UK s nuclear R amp D The plant is planned to be 70 of the size of a commercial power plant The company claimed it had validated all the individual components for the demonstration reactor 35 In 2022 the company announced that it had demonstrated plasma energy confinement times plasma temperatures and compression system performance It also claimed that it had completed 200 000 plasma shots filed 150 patents patents pending and that headcount had passed 200 PI3 reached 10 ms confinement times and temperatures of 250 eV almost 3 million degrees Celsius without active magnetic stabilization auxiliary heating or a conventional divertor Its primary compression prototype has completed over 1 000 shots behaving as predicted 20 Research collaborations EditMicrosoft In May 2017 General Fusion and Microsoft announced a collaboration to develop a data science platform based on Microsoft s Azure cloud computing system A second phase of the project was to apply machine learning to the data with the goal of discovering insights into the behavior of high temperature plasmas The new computational program would enable General Fusion to mine over 100 terabytes of data from the records of over 150 000 experiments It was to use this data to optimize the designs of their fusion system s plasma injector piston array and fuel chamber During this collaboration the Microsoft Develop Experience Team was to contribute their experience and resources in machine learning data management and cloud computing 36 Los Alamos National Laboratory General Fusion entered a cooperative research and development agreement CRADA with the U S Department of Energy s Los Alamos National Laboratory for magnetized target fusion research 37 McGill University In 2017 McGill University and General Fusion acquired an Engage Grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to study General Fusion s technology Specifically the project was to use McGill s diagnostic abilities to develop techniques to understand the behavior of the liquid metal wall during plasma compression and how it might affect the plasma 38 Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory In 2016 the two created an MHD simulation of compression during MTF experiments 39 Queen Mary University of London In 2015 General Fusion funded a research study on high fidelity simulations of non linear sound propagation in multiphase media of nuclear fusion reactor pursued using QMUL CLithium and Y codes 40 Hatch Ltd General Fusion and Hatch Ltd joined in 2015 to create a fusion energy demonstration system The project aimed to construct and demonstrate at power plant scale the primary subsystems and physics underpinning General Fusion s technology including their proprietary Magnetized Target Fusion MTF technology Simulation models will be used to verify that this fusion energy system is commercially and technically viable at scale 25 Culham Centre for Fusion Energy In June 2021 General Fusion announced it would accept the UK government s offer to host the world s first substantial public private partnership fusion demonstration plant at Culham The plant will be constructed from 2022 to 2025 and is intended to lead the way for commercial pilot plants in the late 2020s or early 2030s The plant will be 70 of full scale and is expected to attain a stable plasma of 150 million degrees using deuterium fuel 41 42 In October 2022 the UKAEA and General Fusion elaborated on the nature of their partnership stating that it will harness UKAEA s extensive neutron modelling software and expertise to simulate the neutron flux distribution from General Fusion s operational large scale plasma injector including by building a new larger Thomson scattering system for General Fusion s demonstration machine 43 Funding EditAs of 2021 General Fusion had received 430 million in funding 42 44 Rounds Edit Investors included Chrysalix venture capital the Business Development Bank of Canada a Canadian federal Crown corporation Bezos Expeditions Cenovus Energy Pender Ventures Khazanah Nasional a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund and Sustainable Development Technology Canada STDC 45 Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital a Vancouver based venture capital firm led a C 1 2 million seed round of financing in 2007 2 46 47 Other Canadian venture capital firms that participated in the seed round were GrowthWorks Capital and BDC Venture Capital In 2009 a consortium led by General Fusion was awarded C 13 9 million by SDTC to conduct a four year research project on Acoustically Driven Magnetized Target Fusion 48 SDTC is a foundation established by the Canadian government 49 The other member of the consortium is Los Alamos National Laboratory 48 A 2011 Series B round raised 19 5 million from a syndicate including Bezos Expeditions Braemar Energy Ventures Business Development Bank of Canada Cenovus Energy Chrysalix Venture Capital Entrepreneurs Fund and Pender Ventures 50 51 In May 2015 the government of Malaysia s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad led a 27 million funding round 52 SDTC awarded General Fusion a further C 12 75 million in March 2016 to for the project Demonstration of fusion energy technology in a consortium with McGill University Shock Wave Physics Group and Hatch Ltd 25 In October 2018 Canadian Minister for Innovation Science and Economic Development Navdeep Bains announced that the Canadian government s Strategic Innovation Fund would invest C 49 3 million in General Fusion 34 In December 2019 General Fusion raised 65 million in Series E equity financing from Singapore s Temasek Holdings Bezos and Chrisalix concurrently with another 38 million from Canada s Strategic Innovation Fund The firm said the funds would permit it to begin the design construction and operation of its Fusion Demonstration Plant 53 54 In January 2021 the company announced funding by Shopify founder Tobias Lutke s Thistledown Capital 55 In November 2021 the company completed an over subscribed 130M Series E round Investors included Bezos Business Development Bank of Canada hedge fund Segra Capital Management and family office investors Funds were to be dedicated to constructing a commercial reactor 44 Crowdsourced innovations EditBeginning in 2015 the firm conducted three crowdsourcing challenges through Waltham Massachusetts based firm Innocentive 56 The first challenge was Method for Sealing Anvil Under Repetitive Impacts Against Molten Metal 56 General Fusion successfully sourced a solution for robust seal technology capable of withstanding extreme temperatures and repetitive hammering so as to isolate the rams from the liquid metal that fills the sphere The firm awarded Kirby Meacham an MIT trained mechanical engineer from Cleveland Ohio the 20 000 prize 57 A second challenge Data Driven Prediction of Plasma Performance began in December 2015 with the aim of identifying patterns in the firm s experimental data that would allow it to further improve the performance of its plasma 58 The third challenge ran in March 2016 seeking a method to induce a substantial current to jump a 5 10 cm gap within a few hundred microseconds and was titled Fast Current Switch in Plasma Device 59 A prize of 5 000 was awarded to a post doctoral researcher at Notre Dame 60 See also EditChina Fusion Engineering Test Reactor DEMOnstration Power Plant DEMO Fusion Industry Association Helion Energy History of nuclear fusion ITER Lockheed Martin Compact Fusion Reactor Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production TAE Technologies TerraPower Tokamak EnergyReferences Edit Dean Josh 23 December 2008 This machine might save the world Popular Science a b Hamilton Tyler 20 April 2009 Looking for a net gain in the energy sector Toronto Star VanderKlippe Nathan 16 November 2007 Garage scientist aims to thwart OPEC Financial Post Archived from the original on 26 October 2010 Retrieved 9 December 2020 Laberge Michel 14 August 2018 Magnetized Target Fusion with a Spherical Tokamak Journal of Fusion Energy 38 199 203 doi 10 1007 s10894 018 0180 3 S2CID 125279953 Nuclear energy Fusion plant backed by Jeff Bezos to be built in UK BBC News 17 June 2021 Retrieved 25 June 2021 a b General Fusion s Team Investors and Research Partners General Fusion General Fusion Retrieved 11 December 2017 a b c d Introducing alternative fusion concepts General Fusion EUROfusion Retrieved 17 January 2017 Magnetic Compression and Stability of Spheromaks Mitacs 17 November 2014 Retrieved 17 April 2017 a b c Gibbs Wayt 18 October 2016 Can Small Fusion Energy Start Ups Conquer the Problems That Killed the Giants Scientific American 315 5 38 45 Bibcode 2016SciAm 315e 38G doi 10 1038 scientificamerican1116 38 PMID 27918497 Hamilton Tyler 31 July 2009 A New Approach to Fusion MIT Technology Review Massachusetts Institute of Technology Retrieved 17 January 2017 Clinard Frank 1975 First wall materials problems in fusion reactors Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology 12 510 doi 10 1116 1 568576 Grossman Lev October 2015 Inside the Quest for Fusion Clean Energy s Holy Grail Time a b c d e Robson A E 1980 A Conceptual Design for an Imploding Liner Fusion Reactor Megagauss Physics and Technology Springer US pp 425 436 ISBN 978 1 4684 1050 1 Clery Daniel 2014 Fusion s Restless Pioneers Science 345 6195 370 375 Bibcode 2014Sci 345 370C doi 10 1126 science 345 6195 370 PMID 25061186 a b Cartwright Jon An Independent Endeavour Physics World Retrieved 24 March 2017 Siemon R Peterson Ryutov D 1999 The relevance of Magnetized Target Fusion MTF to practical energy production PDF Los Alamos National Laboratories Frochtzwajg Jonathan 28 April 2016 The secretive billionaire backed plans to harness fusion Retrieved 17 January 2017 Turchi Peter Frese Sherry Frese Michael 10 October 2017 Stabilized Liner Compressor for Low Cost Controlled Fusion at Megagauss Field Levels IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science 45 10 2800 2809 Bibcode 2017ITPS 45 2800T doi 10 1109 TPS 2017 2702625 S2CID 30191919 PSFC Seminar Acoustically Driven Magnetized Target Fusion at General Fusion MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center MIT 18 December 2015 Retrieved 16 January 2017 a b c d General Fusion exceeds core technology performance targets with plasma and compression prototypes www yahoo com Retrieved 2 January 2023 a b General Fusion Developing World s First Commercially Viable Fusion Power Plant for Clean Energy ANSYS 31 March 2017 Retrieved 19 May 2017 a b c d e Laberge M Howard S Richardson D Froese A Suponitsky V Reynolds M Plant D 2013 Acoustically driven Magnetized Target Fusion IEEE 25th Symposium on Fusion Engineering pp 1 7 doi 10 1109 SOFE 2013 6635495 ISBN 978 1 4799 0171 5 S2CID 31681949 Ambreen Ali December 2016 Reviving the Fusion Dream PM Network Archived from the original on 12 December 2017 Retrieved 24 March 2017 a b c Peter O Shea Michel Laberge Mike Donaldson Michael Delage Acoustically Driven Magnetized Target Fusion at General Fusion An Overview Archived 18 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine Poster presented at the 58th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics 31 October 4 November 2016 San Jose California CP10 00103 a b c Demonstration of fusion energy technology clean energy Sustainable Development Technology Canada 19 September 2016 Retrieved 17 January 2017 Magnetized plasma fusion reactor European Patent Office 7 September 2006 Retrieved 16 January 2017 WO 2014032186 Apparatus for Accelerating and compressing Plasma published 2014 03 06 WO 2016112464 Apparatus and Method for Generating a Vortex Cavity in a Rotating Fluid published 2016 07 21 SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EVAPORATING A METAL European Patent Office 12 May 2016 Retrieved 16 January 2017 Russ Ivanov Patrick Carle Neil Carter Ken Jensen Stephen Howard Michel Laberge Alex Mossman Peter O Shea Adrian Wong William Young SPECTOR 1 Plasma as a Target for Adiabatic Compression Archived 15 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine Poster presented at the 58th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics 31 October 4 November 2016 San Jose California CP10 00106 World s largest plasma injector brings commercial fusion energy a step closer General Fusion General Fusion Inc 21 December 2017 Retrieved 23 December 2017 Orton Tyler 17 June 2021 General Fusion draws closer to commercialization taps U K site for demo plant Business in Vancouver Retrieved 17 June 2021 Dawes Terry 28 November 2016 General Fusion to outline clean energy future for Ottawa natural resource committee Cantech Letter Retrieved 17 January 2017 a b Boyle Alan 26 October 2018 Canadian government invests 38M in General Fusion to boost energy research Geekwire Retrieved 19 November 2018 Patel Prachi 13 August 2021 General Fusion Takes Aim at Practical Fusion Power IEEE Spectrum Retrieved 15 August 2021 General Fusion Microsoft team up on data analysis world nuclear news org Retrieved 19 May 2017 Stewart John 21 January 2015 Innovations we need Now and for generations Talk Nuclear Retrieved 17 April 2017 Burnaby based General Fusion Inc Forms Research Partnership With McGill University T Net T Net British Columbia Retrieved 17 January 2017 Reynolds Meritt Froese Aaron Barsky Sandra Devietien Peter Toth Gabor Brennan Dylan Hooper Bick 31 October 2016 Simulation of MTF experiments at General Fusion Bulletin of the American Physical Society 61 18 CP10 108 Bibcode 2016APS DPPC10108R Lockwood David Staff Research Projects Dr Eldad Avital School of Engineering and Materials Science Queen Mary University of London sems qmul ac uk Retrieved 17 January 2017 A Historic Decision To Demonstrate Practical Fusion at Culham General Fusion 16 June 2021 Retrieved 18 June 2021 a b Clery Daniel 16 June 2021 Plans unveiled for private U K fusion reactor powered by smoke rings and pneumatic pistons Science AAAS Retrieved 18 June 2021 General Fusion and UKAEA outline further fusion collaboration New Nuclear World Nuclear News world nuclear news org Retrieved 2 November 2022 a b Wade Will 30 November 2021 Bezos Backed General Fusion Raises 130 Million for Reactor www bloomberg com Retrieved 29 December 2021 General Fusion s Team Investors and Research Partners General Fusion General Fusion Retrieved 11 December 2017 Kanellos Michael More money for fusion energy CNET Retrieved 11 December 2017 Chrysalix is funded by a number of investors including several energy firms its investors are listed on Chrysalix website Archived 10 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine a b Acoustically Driven Magnetized Fusion SDTC 2008 Retrieved 16 March 2017 Media Backgrounder Sustainable Development Technology Canada SDTC website Retrieved 9 November 2011 Fusion lightweight gets a boost from heavyweight investors The Globe and Mail Retrieved 17 January 2017 O Connor Clare Amazon Billionaire Bezos Backs Nuclear Fusion In 19 5 Million Round Forbes Retrieved 17 January 2017 General Fusion raises another 27 million to advance its reactor Canadian Business Your Source For Business News 20 May 2015 Retrieved 17 January 2017 General Fusion Closes 65M of Series E Financing Global Newswire Retrieved 16 December 2019 Bezos Backed Fusion Startup Raises 100 Million for Demo System Financial Post Retrieved 16 December 2019 Nuclear fusion tech developer General Fusion now has Shopify and Amazon founders backing it TechCrunch Retrieved 8 February 2021 a b General Fusion Challenge Method for Sealing Anvil Under Repetitive Impacts Against Molten Metal InnoCentive Wazoku Retrieved 17 January 2017 General Fusion Announces Winner of 20 000 Crowdsourced Engineering Challenge T Net T Net British Columbia 17 August 2015 Retrieved 17 January 2017 General Fusion Challenge Data Driven Prediction of Plasma Performance InnoCentive Wazoku Retrieved 17 January 2017 General Fusion Challenge Fast Current Switch in Plasma Device InnoCentive Wazoku Retrieved 17 January 2017 Cassidy Brendan 8 December 2016 Five Things to Consider Before You Enlist the Crowd Retrieved 17 January 2017 Readings EditKanellos Michael 8 September 2009 A Guide to New Nuclear Greentech Media Wood Mackenzie Business Retrieved 9 December 2020 Harris Richard 9 November 2011 Power for the Planet Company Bets Big on Fusion NPR Waldrop M Mitchell 23 July 2014 Nature News Feature Plasma Physics The fusion upstarts Nature 511 7510 398 400 doi 10 1038 511398a PMID 25056045 S2CID 4468596 External links EditOfficial website General Fusion YouTube www youtube com Retrieved 2 January 2023 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title General Fusion amp oldid 1131127238, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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