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Fusion Science and Technology
August 2025
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Deep Fission raises $30M in financing
Since the Department of Energy kicked off a 10-company race with its Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program to bring test reactors on line by July 4, 2026, the industry has been waiting for new headlines proclaiming progress. Aalo Atomics broke ahead of the pack first by announcing last week that it had broken ground on its 50-MWe Aalo-X at Idaho National Laboratory.
Alexander B. Kukushkin, Valentin A. Rantsev-Kartinov, Arkady R. Terentiev
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 32 | Number 1 | August 1997 | Pages 83-93
Technical Paper | Plasma Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST97-A19881
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Experimental results are presented that verify the formerly predicted possibility of the formation of a closed, spheromak-like magnetic configuration (SLMC) by the natural magnetic field of a plasma focus discharge. The model is based on the self-generated transformation of a toroidal (i.e., azimuthal) magnetic field into a poloidal one. At the final stage of the discharge, the SLMC takes the form of a squeezed spheromak, which includes a combined Z-ϑ-pinch at its major axis, exhibiting a power density several orders of magnitude larger than that measured experimentally on a force-free flux-conserver-confined spheromak formed by helicity injection. The results suggest the possibility of further concentrating the plasma power density by means of compressing the SLMC-trapped plasma by the residual magnetic field of the plasma focus discharge. A qualitative model is given for the scenario of the SLMC-producing plasma focus discharge. Special emphasis is placed on the difference of this approach from conventional approaches to the role of magnetic field reconnection processes in plasma focus dynamics. The operational conditions necessary to stimulate SLMC formation in high-current gaseous discharge systems and the uses of SLMC-trapped plasmas are discussed briefly.