Stellarator Showdown: Proxima Fusion vs. One Energy type

For decades, nuclear fusion, the reaction that feeds the sun, has been the last dream of energy. If it is used on Earth, it could provide an endless and carbon -free power. But the challenge is huge. The fusion requires hotter temperatures than the core of the sun and a mastery of plasma, the overheated gas in which the atoms that have been stripped of their electrons collide, its nuclei are merged. It contains that plasma enough to generate usable energy has remained difficult to achieve.

Now two companies: Germany Proximal fusion and Tennessee with headquarters in Type of energy—It has a big step forward, publishing planes reviewed by pairs for their competitive stellar designs. Two weeks ago, type one launched six technical documents in a special number of the Journal of Plasma Physics. Next he detailed his completely integrated stelarator energy plant concept, called Stellaris, in the newspaper Engineering and Fusion Design. Both companies say that documents show that their machines can deliver commercial fusion energy.

Related: The new idea of ​​nuclear fusion: a standard star

In the heart of both approaches is the star, a fascinatingly complex machine that uses twisted magnetic fields to maintain stable plasma. This configuration, dreamed for the first time in the 1950s, promises a crucial advantage: unlike its most popular cousin, Tokamak, a star can operate continuously, without the need for a strong internal plasma current. Instead, stelamers use external magnetic coils. This design reduces the risk of sudden interruptions to the plasma field that can send high -energy particles that crash on the reactor walls.

The inconvenience? The star, although theoretically simpler to operate, are notoriously difficult to design and build. Recent advances in computational power, high temperature superconductor magnets (HTS) and improved magometry optimization of magnets are changing the game, helping researchers to discover patterns that lead to simpler, faster and faster star designs.

Two merger visions with a goal

While both companies are running towards the same destination, the practical and commercial commercial fusion power, the proximal paper approach is more inclined towards the engineering integration of their reactor, while the type one documents reveal details of their physics design in plasma and key components of its reactor.

Proxima, a spin -off from Germany Max Planck Institute of Plasma PhysicsIts objective is to build a stelarator energy plant of 1 gigawatts. The design uses HTS magnets and IA optimization to generate more power per unit volume than the previous stelators, while significantly reducing the general size. Proxima has requested a patent in an innovative liquid metal reproduction blanket, which will be used to raise tritium fuel for the fusion reaction, through the reaction of neutron with lithium.

The Stellaris Design of Proxima Fusion is significantly smaller than other stelators of the same power.Proximal fusion

“This is the first time anyone has gathered all the elements in a single totally integrated concept,” says the co -founder and chief scientist of Proxima Jorrit lion. The design is based on the Wendelstein 7-X StellaratorA project of € 1.4 billion (US $ 1.5 billion) financed by the German government and the European Union, which established electron temperature records, plasma density and energy confinement time.

Type one star design incorporates three key innovations: an optimized magnetic field for plasma stability, advanced manufacturing techniques and avant -garde HTS magnets. The plant that has folded Infinite two It is designed to generate 350 megawatts of electricity.

Like the next plant, Infinity Two will use Deuterium tritio fuel and will be based on lessons learned from W7-X, as well as Wisconsin HSX projectwhere many of the founders of type one worked before forming the company. In association with the Tennessee Valley authority, Type One aims to build Infinity Two at the TVA’s Bull Run Fossil plant in the mid -2030s.

“Why are we the first private merger company with an agreement to develop a fusion energy plant with a utility? Because we have a reality -based design,” he says, “he says Cristofer MowryOne Energy CEO. “It’s not about building a scientific experiment. It’s about delivering energy.”

Ai points to an ideal 3D magnetic field structure

Both companies have greatly trusted the AI ​​and the supercomputing to help them place the magnetic coils to shape their magnetic fields with greater precision. Type one was based on a range of high -performance computer resources, including the supercomputer exascale frontier of the US Department of Energy. National Laboratory of Oak Ridgeto feed your highly detailed simulations.

That research led one of the most intriguing developments buried in these documents: a possible movement towards consensus in the ESTABLATOR PHYSICS on the ideal structure of three -dimensional magnetic field.

The next team has always adopted the isodynamic (QI) approach, used in W7-X, which prioritizes the capture of deep particles for the confinement of upper plasma. The type, on the other hand, built its first designs around quasi-symmetry (QS), inspired by the HSX star, which aimed to speed up the particle movement. Now, according to your optimization investigation, type one is changing course.

“We were quasi-symmetry champions,” says the main theorist of type one Chris Hegna. “But the surprise was that we could not make quasi-symmetry work as well as we thought we could. We will continue doing quasi-symmetry studies, but mainly it seems that which is the choice of prominent optimization that we will follow.”

Type one energy is working with the Tennessee Valley authority to build a commercial star in the mid -2030s.Type of energy

The way ahead for stelarators

According to Hegna, The type one association with TVA could put a stedoring fusion plant on the network in the mid -2030s. But before Infinity Two, the company plans to validate key technologies with its infinity One test platform, established for construction in 2026 and operation by 2029.

Meanwhile, Proxima plans to give life to its Stellaris design for the 2030s, first with a demonstration star, called Alpha. The company states that Alpha will be the first star in demonstrating net energy production in a stable state. It is aimed at debuting in 2031, after the completion of 2027 of a demonstration set of complex magnetic coils.

Both companies face a common challenge: financing. Type one has raised $ 82 million and, According to AxiosIt is preparing for more than $ 200 million in the financing of Serie A, which the company declined to confirm. Proxima has assured about $ 65 million in public and private capital.

If recent documents are successful in generating confidence in the star, investors may be more willing to finance these ambitious projects. The next decade will determine whether the confidence of both companies in their own designs is justified and if producing the merger energy of the stelarators transitions of scientific ambition to commercial reality.