Status Update on Tri Alpha Energy’s Fusion Program Hiroshi Gota ARPA-E ALPHA Annual Review Mee9ng 1 San Francisco, CA – August 30, 2017 Status Update on Tri Alpha Energy’s Fusion

Presenter:HiroshiGota 1 ARPA-EALPHAAnnualReviewMee9ngSanFrancisco,CA–August30,2017

Status Update on Tri Alpha Energy’s Fusion Program Hiroshi Gota, Michl Binderbauer, and the TAE Team Tri Alpha Energy, Inc. ARPA-E ALPHA Annual Review Meeting San Francisco, CA August 30, 2017


Beginning with the End in Mind Holistic Approach to Fusion

•  Net Energy Output!•  “long enough”!•  “hot enough”!•  sufficiently efficient!

•  Technology Readiness!•  aneutronic fuel!•  low materials challenge!•  ease of maintenance!

•  Cost Competitive!•  compact size!•  least environmental impact!•  efficient energy conversion!

Scien9ficValida9on

EngineeringIntegra9on

CommercialViability


Field-Reversed Configurations and Tri Alpha Energy’s Concept WhyFRCs?:•  Highplasmaβ~1

•  compactandhighpowerdensity•  aneutronicfuelcapability;e.g.,p+11B•  indigenouskine9cpar9cles

•  Simplegeometry•  onlydiamagne9ccurrents•  easierdesign&maintenance

•  Linearunrestricteddivertor•  facilitatesimpurity,ashandpowerremoval

TAE’sapproach:•  TangenDalneutralbeaminjecDon(NBI)

•  largeorbitionpopula9on•  improvestabilityandtransport

•  Fastions•  decoupledfrommicroturbulence•  slowdownatnearclassicalrates

Field-reversedconfiguraDon

Neutral-beaminjecDon(NBI)

Neutral-beaminjecDonandfast-ionorbit


TAE’s Research Philosophy Accelerated Learning Towards “Hot and Long Enough”

•  TestforfailureearlyandatreducedcostwhilereducingmostcriDcalrisks•  Rapidprototyping

•  datadrivenresearch–largeexperimentaldataset(>50,000shots)•  highdegreeofrepeatability

•  Tightlyintegratetheory/modelingwithexperimentaDon•  DevelopengineeringknowhowandintegraDon•  InvitecollaboraDontoaccelerateprogress

•  UCI,UCLA,BudkerIns9tute(Russia),PPPL,LLNL,ORNL,UW-Madison,Univ.ofPisa(Italy),NihonUniv.(Japan),Univ.ofWashington,SwarthmoreCollege,Industrialpartners


Exciting and Productive Collaboration with Google Collaboration Rapidly Accelerating the Science of Fusion

•  VerysuccessfulrelaDonshipwithGooglebeganin2014

•  TAEandGoogleteamsapplyingarDficialintelligence/machinelearningtoadvancedplasmaresearch

•  OngoingdedicaDonofsubstanDalscienDfic,technicalandcompuDngresourcesbyGoogle

•  PublicannouncementJuly2017inconjuncDonwithpublishingofjointpaper– Scien&ficReports7,6425(2017).


TAE Research Program Evolution From 2000 to Present – Demonstration of ~5 ms Plasma Sustainment

* HPF – High Performance FRC regime

A & B – Basic FRC core!!  100-800 G, 5-10 eV !  ion beams, Wb ~0.1 kJ

C-2 – HPF* w/ 2 guns, Ti getter!!  1 kG, 1 keV !  neutral beams, Wb ~12 kJ

C-2 – HPF* w/ 2 guns, Li getter!!  1 kG, 1 keV !  neutral beams, Wb ~20 kJ

C-2U – Sustainment 5+ ms!!  1 kG, 1 keV !  neutral beams, Wb ~100 kJ

C-1 – Enhanced lifetime!!  400 G, 10 eV !  ion beams, Wb ~1 kJ


C-2/C-2U Key Accomplishments Advancement of FRC Performance and Favorable Confinement Scaling

C-2 C-2U

GlobalenergyconfinementDmeinC-2/C-2UParDcleconfinementDmeinC-2(vsothers)ElectronenergyconfinementDmevs.electrontemperatureinC-2/C-2U


C-2W Device (aka “Norman”) – 5th Generation Substantial Upgrades, 10× Stored Energy Towards “Hot Enough”, Validate Scaling Law

UpgradedNB’s:~13MW,~30ms(~19MWinPhase2)

Plasmagunsandbiasingelectrodes:highvoltage&longpulsecapability

Newconfinementvessel:skin9me<3ms

Innerdivertor:highvacuumpumping

Outerdivertor

UpgradedformaDonsecDons:~15mWbtrappedflux

Newmagnetsystem:fieldramp&ac9vecontrol

Parameter Value

Bext, T ~0.1–0.3

rs, cm ~40

Ls, m ~3

ne, m-3 ~3–5×1019

Ti, keV ~1–2

Te, keV ~0.2–1

Pulse length, ms up to 30

DesignedC-2WParameters


Summary Essential Characteristics of TAE’s Fusion Approach •  Fusionenvisionedasanappliedproduct

•  focusonendinmind•  acceleratedlearningwithearlyriskre9rement(inverseriskprofile)

•  Aneutronicfusionpromisesclean,sustainableandaffordablepower•  9nyradioac9vefootprint–comparabletonuclearmedicine•  noatmosphericemissions•  worldwideabundantfuelfornexttensofthousandsofyears

•  InnovaDon–combinesadvancedacceleratorandplasmaphysics•  breakthroughinstabilityandreducedlossrates•  enablescompactandeconomicreactors

•  Progress/what’snext•  C-2Uplasmasustainmentcompellingfounda9onfor“longenough”•  3yearC-2Wprojectunderway–towards“hotenough”•  Begintoworkontocommercializa9onplanw/u9li9esandindustrialpartners


Thank you!

Status Update on Tri Alpha Energy’s Fusion Program Hiroshi Gota ARPA-E ALPHA Annual Review Mee9ng 1 San Francisco, CA – August 30, 2017 Status Update on Tri Alpha Energy’s Fusion

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