Firefly Fusion will develop standard tokamaks as the most promising and fastest path to fusion energy. Tokamaks have achieved the best performance of any fusion device and are just a single step away from demonstrating the feasibility of fusion.
Creating a burning plasma (i.e. a plasma in which most of the heat needed to sustain its high temperature comes from fusion reactions) is crucial to designing and operating future power plants – this will be our first step. After this, we will develop and construct a power plant-scale tokamak.
Firefly Fusion is the first startup to pursue the standard tokamak in Europe. We will build on the strong European fusion ecosystem and complement the existing initiatives of other academic and industrial players.
Technology
We will implement a 2-stage roadmap:
1. Prove fusion energy feasibility by achieving net energy production from a burning plasma
→ demonstrate power plant plasma performance using the lowest risk technology
2. Develop a power plant prototype
→ integrate state-of-the-art technology to resolve remaining engineering challenges
In our first device, we will create a burning plasma by adapting existing tokamak designs that use high-field copper magnets. It will produce a plasma that generates 10 times more fusion power than what is needed to heat it. This will allow us to address key fusion challenges:
- Analyze the performance of burning plasma and novel plasma shapes
- Develop control systems to maintain a stable burning plasma
- Invent components that can handle the power exhausted by the plasma
In our second device, we will demonstrate the demanding technologies needed to enable the continuous and reliable operation of a power plant.
Vision
We will accomplish a burning plasma by adapting existing tokamak designs that use high-field copper magnets.
Our first device will produce a plasma that generates 10 times more fusion power than what is needed to heat it. This will allow us to address key fusion challenges:
- Analyze the performance of burning plasma
- Develop control systems to maintain a stable burning plasma
- Invent components that can handle the power exhausted by the plasma
After this, we will develop and construct a power plant-scale tokamak.
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