Keep pulling the thread on Commonwealth Fusion Systems.
The cryogenic plant for the SPARC tokamak is fully installed and has been successfully operated at its required cooling power.
The first ARC commercial fusion power plant by Commonwealth Fusion Systems will be built at a selected site in Virginia.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems has several support systems for its SPARC tokamak now operational, including cryogenics, cooling water, large electrical systems, and radio frequency heating.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems will use scientific measurements from the SPARC tokamak to inform and improve the design of its ARC commercial power plant.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems measures the velocity and origin of neutrons produced during fusion to understand the internal processes of the tokamak and improve future designs.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems manufactures its toroidal field coils at a factory located adjacent to the SPARC assembly hall.
The SPARC tokamak uses 120 MHz radio waves, a frequency similar to FM radio, to heat its fusion fuel.
The magnets in the SPARC tokamak must be cooled to approximately 8 Kelvin, or -260 degrees Celsius, to operate correctly.
The SPARC tokamak's cooling system uses room-temperature helium flowing through the vacuum vessel to extract the primary heat generated by fusion.
In a commercial fusion power plant like ARC, the heat extracted by the cooling system would be used to power a steam turbine and generate electricity.