How Marvel Fusion Seeks to Accelerate the Commercialization of Fusion
By Dr. Florian Metzler, Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and science advisor of Marvel Fusion
Marvel Fusion’s technology builds on latest progress in fusion science which enables new and economically attractive fusion technology and a faster route to commercial application.
Fusion energy is recognized as a potential game-changer in addressing climate change and rising global energy demand. Much public attention is focused on the demonstration of energy breakeven, i.e., a system where the energy output is larger than the energy input. However, energy breakeven alone does not guarantee commercial viability, which will be essential for the large-scale dissemination of fusion technology. If capital costs remain high and energy yields remain low, then — even with energy breakeven — electricity from fusion will be pricey and therefore not succeed in transforming the global energy markets towards unlimited zero emissions energy.
Economic breakeven is the real race for fusion
Only when fusion energy is generated at a competitive price point can it move the needle. That is why Marvel Fusion pursues fusion technology that promises electricity production at competitive cost levels compared to the expected benchmark price of solar and wind energy. In other words, Marvel Fusion aims to demonstrate economically viable fusion technology. Hallmarks of Marvel Fusion’s approach are high fusion yields, a much neutron-reduced fusion reaction (and therefore much less waste), a highly modular plant design, and greatly reduced capital costs. This article summarizes Marvel Fusion’s fundamentals from a technological and an economic perspective.
I. THE TECHNOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
A new technology for fusion energy
Most prevalent fusion approaches rely on an understanding of fusion as it originated during the 1950s. The fusion picture of that time suggests a sort of brute-force approach in the form of heating a uniform thermal plasma to extremely high temperatures. Since then, the focus of technology development has centered on managing such extreme conditions — especially the dynamics of fusion plasma — which has been fraught with setbacks and has up to now failed to make fusion power commercially viable.
However, much progress has been made in our understanding of fusion-related concepts in the meantime — which can lead to new and more economically competitive fusion technology. The particularly promising approach by Marvel Fusion involves working with highly efficient short-pulsed lasers and sophisticated yet mass-producible nanostructured fuel targets while still yielding higher overall fusion rates than traditional approaches.
The core principles of Marvel Fusion’s physics approach
Marvel Fusion’s approach to fusion draws on several physics effects which are not applicable in conventional magnetic and laser-driven fusion approaches. This includes highly efficient absorption of laser energy, controlled laser pulse propagation, and acceleration of fuel nuclei with non-thermal energy distributions.
In recent years, these effects have been studied individually — in theory and in practice — by a range of academic groups with positive results published in peer-reviewed journals.
Marvel Fusion has recognized the potential of bringing together such effects, in addition to others, in a single integrated fusion system. This advance — together with the recognition that, attractive aneutronic fusion reactions come within reach — forms the core of Marvel Fusion’s innovative approach to fusion.
Hitting targets smarter rather than harder
Effectively, commercial fusion is all about the internal energy economy. How much energy is applied? Where does it end up? What effects does it have? And most importantly: How much energy gets lost in the system without desirable effects? Commercially viable fusion technology needs to stir applied energy where it needs to be and avoid unproductive losses in the process.
In traditional fusion approaches, every nucleus endowed with enough energy to participate in a fusion reaction stands next to numerous nuclei that end up with only a fraction of that energy. Effectively, that energy goes to waste with such nuclei remaining too far from the fusion threshold. Even worse, the systems used to impart energy onto nuclei often suffer extensive losses at earlier stages (e.g., during laser pumping or magnet cooling), so that a vast portion of the energy used by such fusion plants never even makes it to the target.
Prevalent fusion approaches can therefore be compared with an incandescent light bulb, where much of the applied energy is lost to heat and only a fraction ends up producing visible light. In this picture, the Marvel Fusion approach corresponds to an LED where a much larger portion of the applied energy is put to use as intended.
The nanostructured targets employed by Marvel Fusion allow for physical effects where the externally applied energy is concentrated in those nuclei that are intended to fuse, which are accelerated to high velocities. This results in what is known as a non-thermal distribution of ion energies. In other words, the Marvel Fusion approach allows for greater precision and control over where in the target the externally applied energy ends up, yielding high overall energy efficiency.
Moreover, there are preferred energies for certain fusion reactions known as resonances. If these kinetic energies can be matched reasonably precisely, nature provides a free boost of the fusion rate. This approach of engineering ion energies is the antithesis of the traditional brute-force approach that lacks such control: when resonances are successfully exploited, then higher fusion rates can be achieved even with lower ion energies (compared to the same configuration with slightly higher ion energies) — an energetic win-win.
Here, again, Marvel Fusion’s approach provides intrinsic advantages: precise tailoring of nanostructure and laser parameters allows for creating resulting ion distributions that are optimized for maximum fusion rates.
Aneutronic fusion as a game changer: decoupling nuclear energy and radioactivity
The large leverage that Marvel Fusion’s approach offers in affecting fusion rates also places within reach the desirable proton-boron fusion reaction. This reaction is considered aneutronic as it produces only negligible amounts of neutrons compared to the conventionally pursued deuterium-tritium reaction.
Moreover, the proton-boron reaction does not require radioactive fuel such as tritium. Tritium is short-lived and needs to be produced on demand, stored, and handled — which further contributes to the high cost of traditional fusion approaches. Regulatory and public acceptance issues are further complications that are greatly reduced with aneutronic approaches.
II. THE ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE
Gain increases: the key to a profitable fusion industry
The basic economic equation underlying fusion power production is straightforward: the amount of energy produced must in value exceed the costs required to produce it. However, in traditional fusion approaches, capital costs are extremely high to begin with, and levers to increase fusion yields are limited.
Traditional levers that determine fusion yields are temperature, fuel density, and confinement time. Increasing either of these variables results in higher fusion rates. However, for temperature and density to rise, the additional costs typically exceed the resulting benefits — which eliminates this path to yield increase. Increasing confinement time, in turn, leads to greater wear of equipment, especially in prevalent neutron-heavy approaches. The sought increase in yield then needs to be weighed against shorter plant lifetime and component replacement costs. Finally, cutting cost tends to be an uphill battle of diminishing returns, especially as hard limits are involved, determined by the physical demands on capital equipment. The response to this challenge is to identify and make use of more levers to drive up fusion gain, and especially such levers that do not correspond to commensurate cost increases.
Sustained and fast-paced innovation
The sophisticated physics that underlies nanostructured targets and ultrafast laser pulses provides more levers to drive up fusion yields compared to traditional fusion approaches. This results in a vast parameter space to be explored for achieving optimal performance of commercial power production. For instance, how do changes in the fuel geometry affect fusion rates? How about changes in the composition of fuel components? What is the effect of improvements in laser contrast?
Conveniently, Marvel Fusion can address many of these questions through computer simulations of the underlying physics rather than requiring year-long and costly experiments at large-scale facilities. This shifts the process of fusion technology development away from traditional plant and capital equipment design — which is notoriously sluggish — toward the domain of software development with its fast iteration cycles and intrinsic agility, along with cheaper supporting experiments.
This software-driven development of fusion technology supported by focused experimental campaigns draws on detailed physical models and extensive codebases that describe various aspects of the fusion process. Additional codes allow for the evaluation of engineering design choices through predicted performance. Such codebases combined with supporting experiments and the ability to create, expand, and employ them become central to the innovation process. The increasing refinement of components as well as systems at large allows for a continued stream of innovations — a process that represents sustained competitive advantage for the very small number of organizations that master it.
Marvel Fusion as an innovation architect
In addition to proprietary models and codebases, Marvel Fusion has assembled a highly multi-disciplinary team with close ties to globally leading research institutions and experimental facilities. This enables fast turnaround in the testing and confirmation of target and laser configurations that are derived from simulations and supporting experimental campaigns. A large network of world class suppliers and domain specialists further aid in the optimal implementation and scalability of Marvel Fusion’s technology as it evolves.
The company is leveraging and integrating deep technical expertise across such diverse fields as laser technology, plasma science, nuclear science, and nanostructured materials. In addition to its technical expertise, Marvel Fusion has developed a culture of close communication and collaboration across disciplinary boundaries and of constant alertness to new developments in the global science and technology landscape that may prove relevant to advancing its next-generation fusion technology even further.
Continued growth in a burgeoning field
Fusion technology will continue to evolve, and the number of feasible approaches to fusion will continue to proliferate. Economic success comes to those that carefully and deliberately identify their technologies of choice, informed by both physical and economic opportunities and constraints. Marvel Fusion has developed a new approach utilizing high-intensity short-pulse lasers and built up an impressive range of state-of-the-art expertise in advanced fusion technology as well as capabilities to further evolve and transform such expertise based on opportunities that emerge at the frontier of the evolving fusion industry.
