Science Japan aims to complete nuclear fusion reactor by 2038

The government's goal is to test fusion power generation in the 2030s. When it is built, the prototype reactor will measure about 30 meters in both diameter and height, the same size as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which Japan, the United States, Europe and others are currently constructing in France. Under the QST's initial plan, a reactor was designed to be 1.4 times the size of the ITER and scheduled to be commercialized around the 2050s. However, it has been downsized to bring the timeline forward. There are three phases in the development of the prototype reactor: testing power generation integrating the fusion reactor and power generation facilities; testing technology to breed tritium — the fuel — in the reactor; and testing the reactor's stable operations. One year after completing the prototype, the QST aims to successfully generate power for several minutes, with a net output of about 10,000 kilowatts. It then aims to increase that output to about 100,000 kilowatts when the reactor reaches stable operations.

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Ukigumo said:

Virtually every year since I was a child, some group of scientists in some country has declared that clean, cheap and never ending fusion power is merely 20-30 years hence…

Plasma containment is a very difficult problem to solve.

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Now, two companies—Germany's Proxima Fusion and Tennessee-based Type One Energy—have taken a major step forward, publishing peer-reviewed blueprints for their competing stellarator designs. Both firms say the papers demonstrate that their machines can deliver commercial fusion energy.

At the heart of both approaches is the stellarator, a mesmerizingly complex machine that uses twisted magnetic fields to hold the plasma steady. This configuration, first dreamed up in the 1950s, promises a crucial advantage: Unlike its more popular cousin, the tokamak, a stellarator can operate continuously, without the need for a strong internal plasma current. Instead, stellarators use external magnetic coils. This design reduces the risk of sudden disruptions to the plasma field that can send high-energy particles crashing into reactor walls.

The downside? Stellarators, while theoretically simpler to operate, are notoriously difficult to design and build. Recent advances in computational power, high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets, and AI-enhanced optimization of magnet geometries are changing the game, helping researchers to uncover patterns that lead to simpler, faster, and cheaper stellarator designs.

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