US firm shows breakthrough nuclear fusion device prototype with 100 KW of input power

A Seattle-based fusion company has showcased its new prototype device. Called Century, the Zap Energy’s device is claimed to be the first fully-integrated demonstration of several fusion power plant-relevant technologies.

Zap Energy, which recently raised $130 million for Century, aims to commercialize the fusion power as soon as possible.

Fusion energy is created when the forces separating the centers of atoms are overcome, and two smaller nuclei fuse into a larger one.

Zap Energy’s fusion technology doesn’t require magnets

The company previously worked on fusion technology to heat deuterium and tritium to millions of degrees Fahrenheit until they fuse into high-energy helium and neutrons, which can be captured to generate heat and electricity.

The company’s method of fusion doesn’t require magnets, cryogenics or, high-powered lasers.

It relies on method known as Sheared-flow-stabilized Z-pinch. This is an electromagnetic phenomenon where electric currents create magnetic fields so powerful that they compress matter.

“If you run a powerful enough current through plasma, a Z pinch can create conditions hot and dense enough for fusion,” claimed the company.

Zap Energy developing all technologies needed for commercial fusion

Benj Conway, co-founder and CEO of Zap Energy, stated that the company’s focus is not just on physics but also on systems engineering, as it’s not just a plasma physics company.

“We’re developing all of the key enabling technologies that we’re going to need to deliver commercial fusion. We think that doing all of this in parallel — everything all-together, all-at-once type thing — is the fastest way to actually deliver a commercial product. Century is the incarnation of that,” Conway told TechCrunch .

While Z-pinch fusion was tested as far back as the 1950s, researchers were stymied by how quickly the plasmas fizzled out. Zap Energy claimed that it solves that problem through sheared-flow stabilization — a plasma physics innovation that can theoretically extend the lifetime of a Z-pinched plasma almost indefinitely.

World’s first 100-kilowatt-scale repetitive Z-pinch system

The company claims that Century is the world’s first 100-kilowatt-scale repetitive Z-pinch system. Its goal is to integrate and test three major aspects of Zap’s power design: repetitive pulsed power supplies, plasma-facing circulating liquid metal walls, and technology for mitigating electrode damage.

Century is designed to simulate plant-like operation by firing high-voltage pulses of power every ten seconds in a steady sequence for more than two hours (>1,000 pulses at 0.1 Hz), according to Zap Energy .

It can also circulate 70 kilograms (154 pounds) of hot liquid bismuth in its initial configuration and well over a ton in its final configuration. Air-cooled heat exchangers will remove the intense plasma heat absorbed by the liquid metal.

It will also test critical strategies for mitigating electrode damage due to extreme heat and neutron flux, according to Zap Energy.

“Zap’s fusion approach is pulsed, so ultimately it will run like an internal combustion engine with cylinders firing all day long to produce steady energy output,” said Zap VP of Systems Engineering Matthew C. Thompson.

“As you do that you also generate large neutron flux and heat loads in the system over time, which is exactly the energy output that you want, but requires unique engineering solutions. Century will test a lot of our assumptions and define the best path toward our first plant.”

Century has already demonstrated a test run of more than 1000 consecutive plasmas in less than three hours in a chamber lined with flowing liquid metal. The first test of plasmas and flowing liquid metal occurred on June 13 and a few weeks later completed a run of 1080 consecutive shots, reported World Nuclear News .

Century’s structure is the first to take Zap’s sheared-flow-stabilized Z-pinch chamber design and orient it vertically. Pulsed power is injected through the top of the device while liquid metals circulate in a receptacle at the base. Independent test stands built over the past two years at Zap validated previous generations of each of Century’s subsystems, according to Zap Energy .