The Commonwealth Fusion Systems Roadmap to the ARC Fusion Power Plant

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) and its partners are advancing toward commercial fusion energy through a series of concrete milestones focused on technology development and demonstration. CFS is currently building the SPARC tokamak, which is designed to produce Q>1 in early campaigns and eventually Q=11 and 140 MW of fusion power. In addition to studying burning plasmas, SPARC will also investigate heat exhaust in advanced divertor configurations, disruptivitiy in power-plant conditions, and other key plasma physics questions for ARC. CFS is also in the early stages of building an industrial scale FLiBe Thermal Loop to demonstrate key process technologies for a molten salt blanket. In addition to large facilities, CFS is pursuing R&D in key technical and cost impact areas for ARC. Materials efforts focus on tungsten plasma facing material, structural materials for the vacuum vessel and magnets, and radiation shielding materials. The blanket program is investigating tritium breeding, FLiBe salt chemistry, and gaseous tritium processing technologies. CFS is actively developing concepts for remote handling equipment for ARC maintenance and is planning on demonstrating the technical approach before ARC. HTS magnet efforts continue past the technology developed for SPARC, focusing on demountable joints. These efforts pave the way for the ARC fusion power plant, which is designed to produce 400 MW of net electricity in the early 2030s and will be located in Chesterfield County, Virginia.