Tokamak makes waves in commercial fusion with latest plasma results

Published by

Tom Kilkelly

Credit: Tokamak Energy

Oxfordshire-based Tokamak Energy’s fusion machine has 'broken new ground for the commercial fusion industry' through its latest series of upgrades.

Results of the company's latest venture will be revealed at next week’s International Atomic Energy Agency by Dr Steven McNamara, Tokamak Energy’s Head of Plasma Systems.

The company’s ST40 reached a plasma temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius last year, the threshold required for commercial fusion energy and the highest ever achieved in a privately funded spherical tokamak.

This latest set of upgrades are designed to keep the core of the machine clean through the separation of gas and exhaust: magnetically confined hot gas is separated from the wall and its exhaust is directed to a dedicated ‘divertor’ region that extracts heat and particles.

A cleaner machine leads to higher performance according to Tokamak.

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To achieve its milestones, Tokamak Energy upgraded the ST40 plasma control system as diverted plasmas are vertically unstable and require precise control. This enabled the team to exceed its target by achieving a diverted plasma with higher currents, sustained for longer durations.

In addition, the team also established diverted H-mode plasmas across a range of parameters and developed scenarios with a high fraction of non-inductive current drive.

These scenarios will be used in future operations to further develop understanding of the performance of high-field spherical tokamaks.

Dr McNamara said: “We’re delighted with these latest machine enhancements and results, and proud of how ST40 continues to expand our understanding, further validating future power plant designs on our path to delivering clean, secure and affordable fusion energy in the 2030s.”

Tom Kilkelly

Tom Kilkelly started working as a freelance journalist for The Business Magazine following his graduation from UCL in 2022. During his studies Tom became very interested in the works of Irish authors including Samuel Beckett and Flann O'Brien (Brian O'Nolan). His current role as a freelance business reporter is his first exposure to the world of business journalism. Working at TBM has given Tom the chance to really get to grips with the goings-on in the business hive that is the South East.