We’re celebrating this week’s publication of a Tokamak Energy special edition of Nuclear Fusion, the most prestigious fusion energy journal in the world.
Our ‘Focus Collection’ of 11 papers brings together open, peer-reviewed work spanning plasma physics, engineering systems, and commercial considerations for a fusion pilot plant.
While we will not go on to construct it, the papers are a model for accelerating fusion development and showcase our deep design expertise and broad systems integration capabilities. As the only private company with 15 years’ experience designing, building and operating tokamaks, it strengthens our position as a leading voice in the worldwide fusion community.
An output of our previous work under the U.S. Department of Energy Milestone-Based Fusion Program, the collection has reinforced the critical importance high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet design has on the performance and affordability of a fusion power plant. It also illustrates the potential of public–private partnerships to advance fusion energy toward deployment.
Mike Porton, Tokamak Energy Chief Engineer and guest editor for August’s Nuclear Fusion, said: “We’re proud to present our perspective on how to take this ultimate energy source forward from scientific promise to commercial reality, connecting plasma physics to engineering systems. To see all 11 papers published in the prestigious Nuclear Fusion journal is a huge achievement for the company and team.”
Tim Luce, Associate Laboratory Director for Engineering at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, added: “This Focus Collection represents a significant step in how privately-funded fusion efforts interact with the existing fusion community. The work of the design team has been validated through the peer review process and is now available to evaluate, to critique, and ultimately to integrate into future design activities. Its technical value will be demonstrated by its future use, but the immediate value to demonstrate a productive and mutually beneficial interaction of privately and publicly funded fusion research and engineering is already realised.”
Other guest editors include Tokamak Energy’s Erik Martensson, lead author of a paper on ‘Integrated physics and magnet design for the fusion power plant’, and Paul Thomas, along with Jonathan Menard of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Main authors of the other papers are Johannes Willis, Chris Wilson, Kamya Chandrasekhar, Emre Yildirim, Mohamed Mohamed, Xin Zhang, Steve McNamara, Nicolas Lopez and Matt Robinson.
In total, more than 50 people from Tokamak Energy developed the work with a transatlantic team of private fusion industrial pioneers, national laboratories, and academia. The full collection is available to read here: Issue 8 – Volume 66 – Nuclear Fusion – IOPscience.
Founded in 1960 by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Nuclear Fusion is based in Vienna, Austria and administers the peer review process to ensure the quality and relevance of journal content. It covers all aspects of research, theoretical and practical, relevant to controlled fusion energy.
