IEEE PPC 2023 Workshop on Pulsed Power for Fusion Applications

Chair Randy Curry, Sandia National Laboratories rdcurr@sandia.gov, 505-884-0345
Co-Chair Joshua Leckbee , Sandia National Laboratories, jjleckbee@sandia.gov, 505-284-5591
Co-Chair John Verboncoeur, Michigan State University, johnv@egr.msu.edu, 517-355-5133

Sponsored By:

The IEEE 2023 International Pulsed Power Conference is pleased this year to host a Workshop on Pulsed Power for Fusion Applications. The workshop will focus on identifying technology gaps in pulsed power drivers for laboratory, prototype and power plant applications. The goal of the workshop is to identify existing technologies that could be utilized for near term, midterm and far term fusion applications in the 5-15 year, time period. The workshop will focus on component and energy storage needs for pulsed power drivers with that can supply 500 kA to greater than 25 MA currents , with pulse widths in the 50 ns-10us regime at Voltages from 100 kV- 10 MV. Repetitive operation of components in the 0.1 pps-100 pps are of interest with requisite lifetimes of 1 million pulses to over a billion pulses. These requirements encompass laser driven fusion applications, Z Pinch and Z-like MagLiF fusion target requirements. Other requirements are of interest as well, including pulsed power drivers for electromagnets that are repetitive.

The workshop will showcase technologies developed for advanced applications of Pulsed Power that have been developed worldwide that can be rapidly be adapted for near term, or even far term fusion applications. The technology gaps for these pulsed power drivers will be reviewed by a workshop panel and a discussion of the technology gaps required for repetitive operation and long lifetime operation identified. As an outgrowth of this discussion and input from the workshop attendees, a roadmap for component development will be documented and disseminated to the attendees and interested government agencies.

We are soliciting oral presentations and papers from government agencies, fusion companies, industry, and academia which address their pulsed power needs, component technology gaps, and system topology gaps. Inclusive to this call is development of long lifetime, switch technologies, capacitor or energy storage technologies, system topology requirements, control and diagnostic short falls, as well as material shortfalls to extend the lifetime of existing components. Advanced predictive capability to address component reliability and maintenance during operation is also of interest to the call for papers and oral presentations. This includes active control systems and advanced diagnostics.

The workshop will culminate with a panel discussion. The panel will be composed of industry, fusion company representatives, national laboratories, and academics. As an outgrowth of the discussion with attendee participation, the panel will document the discussions and community requirements that will show case the needs of the Pulsed Power fusion community for future development of new components and systems.

The IEEE 2023 PPC will support the workshop with a plenary session on Pulsed Power for Fusion. In addition to the plenary session, the workshop will be supported by both poster and oral sessions at the pulsed power conference this year. The conference will hold a session(s) on Pulsed Power for Fusion and HED applications. The call for papers will potentially include oral sessions and posters. Of interest is advanced pulsed power for fusion and advanced applications, switches for single shot pulsed power systems that can potentially be scaled for future, fusion applications as well as long lifetime, energy storage that can be scaled for either near term or far term requirements, and pulsed power topologies that can be adapted to fusion requirements, or HED requirements which require reliable operation.

The technical area chair for Fusion and HED applications for the IEEE 2023 International Pulsed Power Conference is Randy Curry who can be reached at rdcurr@sandia.gov.

The participation in the workshop requires registration at the IEEE 2023 Pulsed Power Conference. Workshop attendance will be limited and early registration for the conference and workshop is encouraged.