Dynomak

Dynomak is a spheromak^[1] fusion reactor concept developed by the University of Washington using U.S. Department of Energy funding.^[2][3]

History

The project started as a class project taught by professor Thomas Jarboe; after the end of the class, the design was continued by Jarboe and PhD student Derek Sutherland, who had worked on reactor design at MIT.^[2]

As of 2014 plasma densities reached 5x10¹⁹ m⁻³, temperatures of 60 eV, and maximum operation time of 1.5 ms. No confinement time results were available. At those temperatures no fusion, alpha heating or neutron production were expected.

Design

Dynomak incorporates an ITER-developed cryogenic pumping system. Spheromak use an oblate spheroid instead of a tokamak configuration without a central core and without ITER's large, complex superconducting magnets. The magnetic fields are produced by putting electrical fields into the center of the plasma using superconducting tapes wrapped around the vessel, such that the plasma contains itself.^[4]

Dynomak is smaller simpler and cheaper to build than ITER, while producing more power. The fusion reaction is self-sustaining as excess heat is drawn off by a molten salt blanket to power a steam turbine.^[4]

The prototype was about one tenth the scale of a commercial project, is able to sustain plasma efficiently. Higher output would require increased scale and higher plasma temperature.^[2]

Commercialization

Unlike other fusion reactor designs (such as ITER), the Dynomak would be, according to its engineering team, comparable in costs to a conventional coal plant.^[2] Dynomak was expected to cost a tenth of ITER and produce five times as much energy at an efficiency of 40 percent. A one gigawatt Dynomak would cost US$2.7 billion compared to US$2.8 billion for a coal plant.^[4]

See also

• Spheromak
• Field-reversed configuration, a similar concept
• Spherical tokamak, essentially a spheromak formed around a central conductor/magnet

References