Magneto-Inertial Fusion Is Readying In Los Alamos

A new generation fusion experiment named Plasma Liner Experiment already has half of the plasma guns ready. And it should be fully ready in 2020.

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Nowadays most fusion experiments use either magnetic confinement which is typical for tokamaks and that uses a powerful magnetic field or inertial confinement that is for example used in the American National Ignition Facility (NIF) and that is based on very quick heating and compression of the fuel and its inertia. But in Los Alamos, they are finishing an ambitious experiment of a completely new kind that will use both of these approaches at the same time.

This is the Plasma Liner Experiment (PLX) and its creation in the Los Alamos National Laboratory is continuing nicely. And its launch is rapidly approaching. Currently, 18 of the 36 plasma guns are already installed. These High-Intensity Plasma Gun Devices (HIPGD) are placed around a ball-shaped chamber and they shoot supersonic jets of ionized gas into the chamber. The gas gets heated up and compressed in the middle of the chamber thus becoming the fuel for the fusion reaction.

And even though only half of the plasma guns are installed the experiment is already gathering valuable data as the guns are being already fired so the PLX operators can use the data for simulating the collisions of plasma gets in the chamber. These simulations are crucial for understanding the processes in the chamber and further development of this incredible fusion technology.

The PLX technology is a hybrid approach which uses aspects of both the magnetic and inertial confinement. While this approach isn't as technologically mature as the individual approaches it theoretically gives us options for the development of cheaper and much less complex fusion reactors.

The plasma is magnetized in PLX reactors just as it is in tokamaks. This prevents large energy loss. But at the same time, it uses a device that makes the plasma heat up and compress rapidly just as the inertial confinement based devices use. But instead of the more common grid of incredibly powerful laser, it uses a grid of plasma guns.

And the PLX technology also has another interesting benefit. The plasma guns that shoot the gaseous fuel are relatively far from the extreme conditions of the actual fusion reaction itself. This allows the PLX experiment to fire its plasma guns in rapid succession without any damage to the device.

The PLX team hopes that the remaining 18 plasma guns will be installed at the start of 2020. And experiments with the full “firepower” of the 36 plasma guns will start around the end of 2020.

Sources:

• https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-10/aps-mfe100919.php
• http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DPP19/Session/CI2.5
• http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DPP19/Session/TO6.12

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