The FusionDirect path to stellarator fusion energy

This presentation will describe current Type One Energy Group (T1E) fusion activities and plans. Having secured substantial DOE and private funding, T1E is pursuing the high-field optimized stellarator approach to fusion energy production in collaboration with a broad international consortium of individuals, institutions, and companies in fusion science and technology. The T1E strategy, FusionDirect, maximizes the utilization of technical advances underpinning the highly encouraging results from stellarator experiments around the world (eg. HSX and W7-X), together with recent breakthroughs in stellarator theory and modeling, while taking full advantage of demonstrated fusion related technology advances in areas such as advanced manufacturing, and high-temperature superconductor (HTS) materials. Disciplined adherence to this FusionDirect strategy is intended to credibly create the lowest possible risk, shortest possible schedule path to an electricity-generating stellarator Fusion Pilot Plant (FPP) by the 2030’s, in response to the White House’s Bold Decadal Vision for Commercial Fusion Energy.

Plans to address well-established challenges on the path to stellarator fusion commercialization will be discussed, including how to lower cost manufacturing time of highly accurate and intricatelye shaped hardware components, how to control of turbulent transport and how to ensure efficient exhaust of particles and heat, while ensuring long lifetimes of the first-wall materials.