Gauss Fusion and Helical Fusion sign stellarator statement of intent

Gauss Fusion’s demountable coil concept is designed to simplify maintenance of coils and in-vessel components in stellarator fusion plants

(Image courtesy of Gauss Fusion)

Gauss Fusion and Helical Fusion have signed a Joint Statement of Intent, announced in connection with the Japan-Germany Leaders’ Meeting, that sets up a framework for closer dialogue between two stellarator fusion developers, one working on a modular design in Germany and the other on a helical design in Japan. The statement is non-exclusive and leaves each company on its own technology path, with any shared work reserved for separate agreements.

Two stellarator fusion designs under one statement

Gauss Fusion is developing its GIGA stellarator power plant platform alongside proprietary enabling technologies that include Demountable Mitchell Magnets, the HEXA tritium breeding blanket and the PinkCap plasma-exhaust technology.

Helical Fusion advances its Helical Stellarator through the Helix Program, which targets commercially viable fusion power generation in the 2030s. It builds on decades of experimental work and reactor design research at Japan’s National Institute for Fusion Science, and it is integrating technologies and manufacturing capabilities from a range of industries to develop its power plants.

Takaya Taguchi, Helical Fusion’s co-founder and CEO, said helical and modular stellarators each hold distinct advantages for running continuously at steady state, which he sees as essential for commercially viable plants.

A framework that keeps both roadmaps independent

The statement sets out the companies’ intention to engage governments, research institutions, industrial partners and investors on the opportunities and requirements for commercial fusion power. Business activities and relationships with third parties stay independent on both sides, and the initiative remains open to other companies and research institutions that share those objectives.

Dr Uwe Bau, Gauss Fusion’s CEO, said turning fusion science into commercial plants takes more than demonstrating plasma performance, since the engineering, industrial technology and manufacturing expertise to build, maintain and operate them over decades is also needed. He added that the statement gives the companies a route to compare views and look for areas where working together could help their respective programmes.

Magnet work behind each stellarator fusion design

High-temperature superconducting magnet technology is a key component of Helical Fusion’s power plant design, and last year the company reported an HTS coil test in which a conductor designed for commercial plant scale carried stable current of 40 kA under a 7 tesla external field at 15 K. Construction of the Helix HARUKA integrated demonstration device followed, ahead of the Helix KANATA pilot plant planned for the 2030s.

Gauss Fusion sized GIGA at 3 GW thermal and 1 GW electric in its magnet system presentations at the MT29 conference in Boston last year, with a field of 6 tesla on the plasma axis and a maximum of 12 to 13 tesla on the coils. The same presentations described a demountable coil concept that lets coils be made off site and transported more easily, and that simplifies maintenance and repair of coils and in-vessel components.

Separate agreements would define any shared work

The statement leaves any shared technical or commercial work to later agreements, and both chief executives say commercial plants need engineering and industrial capability on top of the underlying fusion science.

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