7th Asia-Pacific Conference on Plasma Physics, 12-17 Nov, 2023 at Port Messe Nagoya

Overview of TAE Technologies’ Fusion Program
Hiroshi Gota and the TAE TeamTAE Technologies, Inc.
e-mail (speaker): hgota@tae.com
TAE Technologies (TAE; formerly named Tri AlphaEnergy) was established in 1998 as a fusion start-up
private company, spun off from University of California
at Irvine by the late Prof. Norman Rostoker, aiming forthe development and steady operation of commercial
fusion reactors. It is currently one of the world’s largest
privately funded fusion research companies. TAE’sconcept of a magnetically confined fusion reactor isbased on utilizing a field-reversed configuration (FRC)
as the core plasma and performing plasma heating andcurrent drive for steady operation by neutral beam (NB)
injection [1]. TAE’s fusion approach is to eventuallyadopt advanced fuels such as hydrogen-boron (p-11B)
with the ultimate aim of a safe and economical fusion
reactor that does not generate neutrons in its primary
fusion reaction. This approach also has manytechnological advantages that make it easier to design,
construct and operate the reactor because there is little tono concern about neutron induced damage on the reactor.
An FRC is a high-beta compact toroid (CT), solely
consisting of poloidal axisymmetric magnetic field insideclosed-field lines formed by the toroidal self-current,
where its separatrix is surrounded by open-field lines.
The volume-averaged beta (ratio of plasma pressure toexternal magnetic pressure) is near unity, so FRCs can becompact and highly magnetically efficient thus
economically attractive as a fusion reactor plasma.
Furthermore, because the closed magnetic-field-line
structure exists independently of the open magnetic-fieldlines outside the separatrix, FRCs can be easilytranslated in the axial direction. A direct energy
conversion may also be utilized by using natural
divertors at both ends of the device.
TAE’s current experimental device, C-2W (a.k.a.
“Norman,” shown in Fig. 1), is the company’s fifth
generation FRC device and the world’s largest
theta-pinch, CT collisional-merging system [2]. It forms
high-magnetic-flux, high-temperature, and stable FRC
plasmas. High-energy particles inside the FRC areinjected/produced by a state-of-the-art tunable energy(15-40 keV variable during a shot) NB injector system. It
has made significant progress in FRC performance,producing record breaking, high temperature (Te ~1keV, Ttot >5 keV) advanced beam-driven FRC plasmas,
dominated by injected fast particles and sustained insteady-state for up to 40 ms (limited only by the energy
storage on-site). An active plasma control system has
been developed and utilized in C-2W to produce betterand consistent FRC performance using magnets,
electrodes, gas injection, and tunable-energy NBs.
Overall FRC performance is well correlated with NBs
and edge-biasing system, where higher total plasmaenergy is obtained by increasing both NB injection
power and applied-voltage on biasing electrodes.
Google’s machine-learning framework for experimental
optimization has been routinely used in C-2W [2,3].
Together with real-time control systems for FRC
shape/position control as well as for electrode biasing andparticle fueling, C-2W operations have now reached to amatured level where the machine can produce hot, stable,
long-lived and repeatable plasmas in a well-controlledmanner.
This presentation will review the highlights of recent
C-2W experimental campaigns as well as future plansand perspectives of TAE’s fusion program. TAE’s next
fusion device, called Copernicus, is under construction;
its program goals and some key design parameters will
also be presented.
References[1] M.W. Binderbauer et al., Phys. Plasmas 22, 056110(2015).
[2] H. Gota et al., Nucl. Fusion 61, 106039 (2021).
[3] E.A. Baltz et al., Sci. Reports 7, 6425 (2017).
(a)(b)Figure 1. (a) Illustration of the C-2W experimental device,
Norman, consisting of the central confinement section
surrounded by 2 inner divertors, 2 formation sections, and 2
outer divertors. Eight NB injectors (4 of 15 keV fixed-energy
NBs and 4 of 15–40 keV tunable-energy NBs) are installed in
the central region of the confinement vessel. (b) Sketch of FRC
magnetic topology and density contours, calculated by 2D
multifluid force-balanced equilibrium code, where field-line
contours are traced and plasma densities are indicated withcolors.