Novatron, a private company dedicated to advancing fusion energy, is making significant progress while pushing the boundaries of nuclear fusion with its innovative axisymmetric tandem mirror (ATM) technology.
Novatron’s newly unveiled ATM technology represents a breakthrough in overcoming these hurdles. According to the company, “The new innovative Novatron reactor design is a new solution for stable plasma confinement and a significant step towards fusion power generation.”
At the core of Novatron’s technology is the concept of a magnetic mirror machine, which uses two large magnets to trap plasma within a powerful magnetic field, bouncing it back and forth like a ball in a room of mirrors. Magnetic mirrors offer several advantages, including low cost, continuous operation, and efficient fueling. One of their key strengths is their ability to achieve a high “beta,” or plasma pressure, using relatively weak magnetic fields, making the process more cost-effective. However, traditional magnetic mirrors suffer from two major issues: instability, where plasma escapes the trap, and short confinement times, which prevent the plasma from remaining hot and dense long enough for fusion reactions to take place.
Novatron’s solution to these problems lies in its ATM design, which integrates magnetic mirrors with another advanced concept known as “biconic cusps.” While magnetic mirrors provide strong magnetic fields to confine plasma, biconic cusps help stabilize the plasma within the reactor. This combination allows Novatron’s ATM to achieve both improved confinement and inherent stability. As the company explains, “The result is that the super-hot plasma strives to reach its inherently stable equilibrium in the center of the reactor, creating a stable process that can operate continuously.”
To validate the effectiveness of this technology, Novatron has carried out extensive computer simulations using the WarpX platform. The simulations have shown promising results, confirming the stability of the ATM and demonstrating a substantial improvement in energy confinement time. “We have performed extensive computer verification and stress-test simulations to confirm that the Novatron will perform as expected in real-world conditions,” the company emphasized. According to Erik Oden, Novatron’s co-founder and chairman, “Our calculations have also indicated that we will have an energy confinement time improvement of a factor of 100 over traditional magnetic mirror machines.”
Novatron’s path toward commercial fusion power is structured in stages. The company aims to develop its fusion concept in four steps, with the ultimate goal of designing a commercial fusion power plant that can supply energy to the grid.
“The Novatron fusion concept will be developed in four steps, with the final goal being a commercial fusion power plant design, ready to provide power to the energy grid,” Novatron concluded.