Paper VT-WeM10
Introduction to Tri Alpha Energy's Fusion Concept, Vacuum Requirements and Performance of Our Current C2U Machine
Wednesday, October 21, 2015, 11:00 am, Room 230B
Tri Alpha Energy (TAE) is researching a novel fusion concept of energetic ions magnetically trapped as large orbits in a Field Reverse Configuration plasma (FRC). C2 and C2U are the previous and current generation machines that have pushed and continue to push our understanding of FRC plasmas, energy levels, durations, control, and engineering required toward an energy generating machine. C2 was operated between 2008 and 2014, followed by its completed upgrade to C2U in early 2015. C2 and C2U are both linear vessels (~20m long, ~17m3 volume, low 10-9 Torr pressures) with many attached sub systems such as 1.8 MW neutral beam sources (10 MW total injected power into the plasma) and a plethora of diagnostics. The talk will first give an overview to TAE’s concepts and C2U, followed by a discussion of the physics that drive the vacuum requirements, such as wall recycling, ion-neutral losses, divertor gas loads and how we solved many of the technical vacuum challenges in order to meet our performance goals.