Commonwealth Fusion Systems

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) is an American company founded in 2018 aiming to build a compact thermonuclear fusion power plant based on the ARC tokamak reactor concept.[2] The company is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts close to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from which it spun off and is a member of the United States Department of Energy’s INFUSE public-private knowledge innovation scheme, with Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and the MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center.[3]

Commonwealth Fusion Systems
TypePrivate
IndustryEnergy, nuclear
Founded2018 (2018)
Headquarters
Cambridge, Massachusetts
,
US
Key people
Bob Mumgaard (CEO)[1]
Number of employees
100 (2020)
Websitecfs.energy

History

CFS was founded in 2018 as a spin-off from the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center.[4] After initial funding of $50 million in 2018 from the Italian multinational Eni,[2] CFS closed its series A round of venture capital funding in 2019 with a total of US$ 115 million in funding from Eni,[5] Bill Gates's Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Vinod Khosla's Khosla Ventures, and others.[6][7] CFS raised an additional US$ 84 million in series A2 funding from Singapore's Temasek, Norway's Equinor, and Devonshire Investors, as well as from previous investors.[8] As of October 2020, CFS had approximately 100 employees.[9]

In September 2020, the company reported significant progress in the physics and engineering design of the SPARC tokamak,[1][10] and in October 2020, the development of a new high temperature superconducting cable, called VIPER.[11][12]

In March 2021, CFS announced plans to build a headquarters, manufacturing, and research campus (including the SPARC tokamak), in Devens, Massachusetts a suburb of Boston.[13][14] Also in 2021, CEO Bob Mumgaard was appointed to the board of directors of the Fusion Industry Association, which was incorporated as a non profit association with a focus on combating climate change.[15]

In September 2021, the company announced the demonstration of a high temperature superconducting magnet, able to generate magnetic fields of 20 Tesla.[16][17] According to the New York Times, this was a successful test of "...the world’s most powerful version of the type of magnet crucial to many fusion efforts..."[18]

In November 2021, the company raised an additional $1.8 billion in Series B funding to construct and operate the SPARC reactor. [19]

Technology

CFS plans to focus on proving new yttrium barium copper oxide high-temperature superconducting magnet technologies. The company successfully demonstrated a large-bore, high-field (20 Tesla) magnet in September 2021.[20][8]

This magnet technology will be used to construct SPARC, a demonstration net-positive energy tokamak.[21][22][23] As of September 2021, SPARC is targeted for completion by 2025.[20] CFS then plans to build a power plant based on the ARC design.[2] Both SPARC and ARC plan to use deuterium-tritium fuel.

The company's VIPER cable can sustain higher electric currents and magnetic fields than previously possible.

See also

References
  1. Fountain, Henry (29 September 2020). "Compact Nuclear Fusion Reactor Is 'Very Likely to Work,' Studies Suggest". New York Times. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  2. "MIT and newly formed company launch novel approach to fusion power". MIT News. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  3. Laboratory, Princeton Plasma Physics (2021-01-02). "Future Zero-Emissions Power Plants: Scientists Collaborate on Development of Commercial Fusion Energy". SciTechDaily. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  4. Tollefson, Jeff (9 March 2018). "MIT launches multimillion-dollar collaboration to develop fusion energy". Nature. pp. 294–295. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-02966-3. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  5. Devlin, Hannah (9 March 2018). "Nuclear fusion on brink of being realised, say MIT scientists". the Guardian. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  6. Rathi, Akshat (September 26, 2018). "In search of clean energy, investments in nuclear-fusion startups are heating up". Quartz. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  7. "Commonwealth Fusion Systems Raises $115 Million and Closes Series A Round to Commercialize Fusion Energy". PR Newswire. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  8. Systems, Commonwealth Fusion. "Commonwealth Fusion Systems Raises $ 84 Million in A2 Round". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  9. Aut, Kramer David author (2020-10-13). "Investments in privately funded fusion ventures grow". Physics Today. 2020 (2): 1013a. doi:10.1063/PT.6.2.20201013a.
  10. "New Scientific Papers Predict Historic Results for Commonwealth Fusion Systems' Approach to Commercial Fusion Energy". Commonwealth Fusion Systems. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  11. "New High-Temperature Superconductor (HTS) Cable Demonstrates High Performance". Commonwealth Fusion Systems. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  12. "Superconductor technology for smaller, sooner fusion". MIT PSFC. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  13. Chesto, Jon. "MIT energy startup homes in on fusion, with plans for 47-acre site in Devens". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  14. "Commonwealth Fusion Systems Selects 47-Acre Site in Devens, Mass., for Historic Commercial Fusion Energy Campus". Commonwealth Fusion Systems. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  15. "Fusion Industry Association Announces Independent Incorporation and Expansion". Yahoo! Finance. 5 May 2021.
  16. "MIT-designed project achieves major advance toward fusion energy". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
  17. "Commonwealth Fusion Systems creates viable path to commercial fusion power with world's strongest magnet". www.cfs.energy. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
  18. Reed, Stanley (2021-10-18). "Nuclear Fusion Edges Toward the Mainstream". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-10-30.
  19. "Nuclear-Fusion Startup Lands $1.8 Billion as Investors Chase Star Power". Wall Street Journal. 1 Dec 2021.
  20. Chandler, David (8 September 2021). "MIT-designed project achieves major advance toward fusion energy". MIT. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  21. "A New Approach to Fusion Energy Starts Today | MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences". eapsweb.mit.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  22. Greenwald, Martin (2019). "Fusion Energy: Research at the Crossroads". Joule. 3 (5): 1175–1179. doi:10.1016/j.joule.2019.03.013.
  23. Creely, A. J.; Greenwald, M. J.; Ballinger, S. B.; Brunner, D.; Canik, J.; Doody, J.; Fülöp, T.; Garnier, D. T.; Granetz, R.; Gray, T. K.; Holland, C. (2020). "Overview of the SPARC tokamak". Journal of Plasma Physics. 86 (5). doi:10.1017/S0022377820001257. ISSN 0022-3778.
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