General Atomics
🇺🇸 San Diego, US · Active
General Atomics (GA) is a privately owned US defence and technology company based in San Diego, California. It was founded in 1955 as a division of General Dynamics and has been owned by the Blue family since 1986. In fusion, GA runs the DIII-D National Fusion Facility, a tokamak and a Department of Energy user facility, which GA describes as the largest magnetic fusion research facility in the US. It is also manufacturing the Central Solenoid, the large pulsed superconducting magnet at the centre of ITER, and supplies components and diagnostics to US laser fusion laboratories. In fission, GA says it has built more than 60 TRIGA research reactors in 24 countries, and it has two unbuilt designs for helium-cooled fast reactors, the Energy Multiplier Module (EM2) and the Fast Modular Reactor.
- Sector
- Fusion, Fission
- Technology
- Tokamak
- Role
- Operator, Supplier, Reactor developer
It is the operator of record for DIII-D (operating). Measured results for DIII-D are listed below.
Terms
- Tokamak
- Doughnut-shaped magnetic confinement using a strong toroidal field plus a current driven through the plasma itself. The most-studied configuration, and the one ITER uses. Its main open problem is heat exhaust at the divertor, where the plasma edge concentrates power onto a small area, together with the risk of disruptions: sudden, uncontrolled losses of the plasma current.
Designs
| Design | Developer | Approach | Electrical output per unit | Size class | Licensing stage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy Multiplier Module (EM2) EM2 | General Atomics | Gas-cooled | 265 MWe planned | Small modular reactor | No milestone recorded |
| Fast Modular Reactor (FMR) FMR | General Atomics | Gas-cooled | 44 MWe planned | Small modular reactor | No milestone recorded |
Results
Fusion triple product (nTτE)
claimed1997shot 87977
Continuing progress toward fusion energy breakeven and gain as measured against the Lawson criteria
Ion temperature (peak)
claimed1997shot 87977
Continuing progress toward fusion energy breakeven and gain as measured against the Lawson criteria
Plasma density
claimed1997shot 87977
Continuing progress toward fusion energy breakeven and gain as measured against the Lawson criteria
Energy confinement time (τE)
claimed1997shot 87977
Continuing progress toward fusion energy breakeven and gain as measured against the Lawson criteria
Design values
| Device | Parameter | Value | Unit | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIII-D | Major radius | 1.7 | m | design valueclaimed |
| DIII-D | Minor radius | 0.6 | m | design valueclaimed |
| DIII-D | On-axis magnetic field | 2.17 | T | design valueclaimed |
| DIII-D | Plasma current | 2 | MA | design valueclaimed |
| DIII-D | Plasma duration (nominal) | 10 | s | design valueclaimed |
Devices
Related companies
- Commonwealth Fusion Systems
- Maritime Fusion
- Energy Singularity
- Firefly Fusion
- Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
- ITER Organization
- Korea Institute of Fusion Energy
- Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics
- MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center
- National Nuclear Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan
- Pranos Fusion
- UK Atomic Energy Authority
Sources
- DIII-D National Fusion Facilityoperator
- About General Atomicsoperator
- Magnetic Fusion Energyoperator
- Inertial Fusion Technologyoperator
- General Atomicsaggregator
- IAEA ARIS Small Modular Reactor Technology Catalogue 2024, section "Energy Multiplier Module (EM2) (General Atomics)"operator
- IAEA ARIS Small Modular Reactor Technology Catalogue 2024, section "Fast Modular Reactor (FMR) (General Atomics)"operator