Speaker: Dr. Thomas Sunn Pedersen, Type One Energy
Title: The Type One Energy Approach to High-Field Stellarator Fusion Power
Abstract:
The Type One Energy Group pursues the high-field, highly optimized stellarator as a robust and economically attractive concept for fusion energy. The company has more than 200 employees in its Centers of Excellence in several countries. We will present our preconceptual design and physics basis for the Infinity Two Power Plants, including high-fidelity gyrokinetic transport studies showing robust fusion burn, with access to full ignition, calculations showing MHD stability at the chosen operating points, density profiles commensurate with today’s pellet fueling technology, and a novel and patent-protected divertor design with significantly improved particle exhaust efficiency. Several key technology elements will also be described, including a realistic assessment of the net electricity production. A scaled-down version of Infinity Two, called Infinity One, will be constructed and operated at the Bull Run retired Coal Power Plant near the company’s headquarters in Knoxville, Tennessee. Infinity One will verify-by-test key innovations that form the basis of the Infinity Two power plant.
Bio:
Thomas Sunn Pedersen is Chief Technology Officer at Type One Energy, where he leads the company's technology- and intellectual property strategy toward the commercialization of stellarator fusion energy. He brings three decades of experience in fusion technology, plasma physics, and stellarator design and operation.
Prior to joining Type One Energy, Thomas was a Professor of Physics and Director of Stellarator Edge and Divertor Physics at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald, Germany, the home of the world's most advanced stellarator to date, Wendelstein 7-X. In the decade before that, he designed, built and operated the CNT stellarator at Columbia University in New York City, while serving on the faculty of the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, where he maintains an adjunct professorship. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and a recipient of a US-DOE Early Career Award, an NSF Career Award, and an ERC Advanced Grant.
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Seminar Access: In-person seminars are only available to CU ID holders. Non-Columbia affiliates can contact [email protected] if you'd like the seminar Zoom link.