ARC Physics Basis Status

Commonwealth Fusion Systems plans to build ARC, a high magnetic field tokamak, as the first fusion pilot plant by the early 2030’s. ARC will follow SPARC, now under construction, where a primary focus of the SPARC research program will be to inform ARC design and operation. The ARC design, which has evolved from early iterations [1,2], targets production of 400 MW net electric power based on achieving H₉₈=1.0 in pulsed, inductive operation and leveraging HTS magnet technology for a compact design (R₀=4.08 m, a=1.06m, B₀=11.5 T, I_p=10.1 MA) with P_fus≈1 GW at n_G≈0.85 and β_N≈1.7; values subject to change based on ongoing design activities. A set of physics studies has been initiated to increase the fidelity of analysis for the scenario at the ARC design point and inform the SPARC research program in support of ARC, including divertor physics, pedestal and ELMs, core transport, disruptions, MHD stability, alpha physics, and ICRF heating, which will result in a set of peer-reviewed publications similar to the SPARC Physics Basis [3]. Description of the current 2023 design and planned operation will be presented, including preliminary results of the ARC Physics Basis studies.



[1] Sorbom et al, FED 2015

[2] Kuang et al, FED 2018

[3] Creely et al, JPP 2020