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Fusion energy has the potential to facilitate the energy transition from fossil fuels, improve domestic energy security, and power artificial intelligence data centers. Private companies have already invested more than eight billion dollars to develop commercial fusion and seize the opportunities it offers. However, a major challenge is the discovery and evaluation of cost-effective materials that can withstand extreme conditions for extended periods, including one hundred and fifty-million-degree plasmas and intense particle bombardment.
In order to meet this challenge, MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) has launched the Schmidt Laboratory for Materials in Nuclear Technologies, or LMNT (pronounced “element”). Supported by a philanthropic consortium led by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, LMNT is designed to accelerate the discovery and selection of materials for a variety of fusion power plant components.
By drawing on MIT’s expertise in fusion and materials science, repurposing existing research infrastructure, and drawing on its close collaborations with leading private fusion companies, the PSFC intends to drive rapid progress in the materials that are necessary for commercializing fusion energy in the near future. LMNT will also assist in the development and assessment of materials for nuclear power plants, next-generation particle physics experiments, and other science and industry applications.
Zachary Hartwig is the head of LMNT and an associate professor in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE. He says, “We need technologies today that will rapidly develop and test materials to support the commercialization of fusion energy. LMNT’s mission includes discovery science but seeks to go further, ultimately helping select the materials that will be used to build fusion power plants in the coming years.”
For decades, researchers have labored to understand how materials behave under conditions for nuclear fusion using methods like exposing test specimens to low-energy particle beams, or placing them in the core of nuclear fission reactors. However, these approaches have significant limitations. Low-energy particle beams can only irradiate the thinnest surface layer of test materials. Fission reactor irradiation doesn’t accurately replicate the mechanism by which fusion reactions damage materials. Fission irradiation is also an costly, multiyear process that requires special facilities.
In order to overcome these obstacles, researchers at MIT and peer institutions are exploring the use of energetic beams of protons to simulate the damage materials undergo in fusion environments. Proton beams can be adjusted to match the damage expected in fusion power plants. Protons penetrate deep enough into test samples to provide insights into how fusion exposure can affect structural integrity. Proton beams also offer the advantage of speed. First, intense proton beams can rapidly damage dozens of material samples at once. This allows researchers to test them in days, rather than years. Second, high-energy proton beams can be generated with a special type of particle accelerator known as a cyclotron commonly used in the health-care industry. LMNT will be built around a cost-effective, off-the-shelf cyclotron that is easy to source and highly reliable. LMNT will surround its cyclotron with four experimental areas dedicated to research in materials science.
The lab is being constructed inside the large, shielded concrete vault at PSFC that once housed the Alcator C-Mod tokamak. This tokamak was used in a record-setting fusion experiment that ran at the PSFC from 1992 to 2016.
Plasma Science and Fusion Center
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