The fixed boundary plasma equilibrium basis for a one Gigawatt electric stellarator power plant
Abstract
A fixed boundary stellarator equilibrium capable of producing 3 GW of fusion power (1 GW-electric) is presented as the design basis for the GIGA fusion power plant being developed by Gauss Fusion GmbH. The stellarator concept provides a steady-state, transient free, low recirculating power approach to a fusion power plant, which builds on 50 years of progress in plasma physics. A set of requirements for a fixed boundary equilibrium were determined through application of 0.5 D modeling. Optimization of a modified Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) equilibrium was performed to achieve these requirements including alpha power confinement greater than 85%, neoclassical effective ripple below 0.01, bootstrap current below 50 kA, and reduced turbulent heat fluxes. In order to fix the plasma volume of 1500 m3 during optimization, the VMEC code was modified to renormalize the boundary coefficient to the desired plasma volume. The STELLOPT stellarator optimization code was modified as well to include new bootstrap current targets, a new target for the radial electric field, and the capability to hold the magnetic field on axis at a fixed value. An intermediary conceptual design plasma and final evolved fixed boundary equilibria are compared to the original modified W7-X equilibrium. The final evolved equilibrium is shown to achieve all the necessary requirements for the GIGA fusion power plant through more detailed modeling of stability, fast ion confinement, and transport.
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BibTeX
@misc{lazerson2026fixed,
title = {{The fixed boundary plasma equilibrium basis for a one Gigawatt electric stellarator power plant}},
author = {Samuel A. Lazerson and António J. Coelho and Dana Douqa and Adrian Asmund Fessler and Luisa Hübner and Matteo Moscheni and Eoin Hodge and Richard Kembleton and Joona Sissonen and Konsta Särkimäki and Antti Snicker and the Gauss Fusion Team},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2607.09346},
eprint = {2607.09346},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.09346},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The fixed boundary plasma equilibrium basis for a one Gigawatt electric stellarator power plant
AU - Samuel A. Lazerson
AU - António J. Coelho
AU - Dana Douqa
AU - Adrian Asmund Fessler
AU - Luisa Hübner
AU - Matteo Moscheni
AU - Eoin Hodge
AU - Richard Kembleton
AU - Joona Sissonen
AU - Konsta Särkimäki
AU - Antti Snicker
AU - the Gauss Fusion Team
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/12
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2607.09346
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.09346
AB - A fixed boundary stellarator equilibrium capable of producing 3 GW of fusion power (1 GW-electric) is presented as the design basis for the GIGA fusion power plant being developed by Gauss Fusion GmbH. The stellarator concept provides a steady-state, transient free, low recirculating power approach to a fusion power plant, which builds on 50 years of progress in plasma physics. A set of requirements for a fixed boundary equilibrium were determined through application of 0.5 D modeling. Optimization of a modified Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) equilibrium was performed to achieve these requirements including alpha power confinement greater than 85%, neoclassical effective ripple below 0.01, bootstrap current below 50 kA, and reduced turbulent heat fluxes. In order to fix the plasma volume of 1500 m^3 during optimization, the VMEC code was modified to renormalize the boundary coefficient to the desired plasma volume. The STELLOPT stellarator optimization code was modified as well to include new bootstrap current targets, a new target for the radial electric field, and the capability to hold the magnetic field on axis at a fixed value. An intermediary conceptual design plasma and final evolved fixed boundary equilibria are compared to the original modified W7-X equilibrium. The final evolved equilibrium is shown to achieve all the necessary requirements for the GIGA fusion power plant through more detailed modeling of stability, fast ion confinement, and transport.
ER -