An international team is constructing a revolutionary nuclear fusion reactor in Spain called SMall Aspect Ratio Tokamak (SMART) to address future energy demands. Academics are currently publishing a series of papers describing the cutting-edge technology that powers SMART.
The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is collaborating with the Spanish University of Seville on the design and development of a new fusion reactor design.
Jack Berkery is the principal investigator for the PPPL collaboration with SMART. He said that “The SMART project is a great example of us all working together to solve the challenges presented by fusion and teaching the next generation what we have already learned. We have to all do this together or it’s not going to happen.” Together with PPPL’s experience in magnetics and sensor systems, the SMART project benefits from PPPL computer codes.
Fusion reactors work on the same principle that powers the stars. They combine hydrogen and other light elements to produce helium and release enormous amounts of energy. In contrast to fission-based nuclear energy reactors currently in use, fusion offers the potential to produce huge amounts of energy with less waste and risk.
Previous attempts to produce fusion have resulted in more energy being used than produced. Reaching a net positive energy output has remained a challenging task. When a team from the U.S. managed to deliver seven tenths of a megajoules of energy in 2022, it was considered a tremendous feat.
Although fusion energy is still years away, the SMART project intends to move closer to that goal. SMART is a new spherical tokamak fusion reactor that explores negative versus positive triangularity prospects. SMART has a unique design that incorporates a tokamak cross-section and negative triangularity
Manuel Garcia-Munoz is a professor at the University of Seville. According to him, a negative triangularity could provide improved performance. He added that “It’s a potential game changer with attractive fusion performance and power handling for future compact fusion reactors. Negative triangularity has a lower level of fluctuations inside the plasma, but it also has a larger divertor area to distribute the heat exhaust.”
The novel structure increases performance by suppressing plasma instabilities, which may cause energy loss and possibly even damage to the walls of the nuclear reactor. Garcia-Munoz explained that “The idea was to put together technologies that were already established: a spherical tokamak and negative triangularity, making SMART the first of its kind. It turns out it was a fantastic idea.”
Researchers are currently investigating advanced diagnostic methods to track plasma conditions in the experiments. The tools created in collaboration with PPPL will evaluate the plasma’s stability and impurity. This will guarantee a more effective fusion process, noted the press release from Monday.
In the search for sustainable energy solutions, the SMART project offers the promise of revolutionizing energy generation. The project hopes to achieve first plasma by late 2024. And, as global cooperation continues, the goal of using fusion energy to supply huge amounts of power the grid is getting closer to reality.