The Zap Energy approach to commercial fusion

Presented by Steve Richardson

Wednesday, November 15, 2023, 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm EST

Fusion energy is widely considered to be "the clean energy of the future". With minimal waste, no carbon emission, and plentiful fuel, fusion holds the potential to be a transformative energy source. In this talk, I will give a brief history of fusion, including the basics of fusion physics, and an overview of the various approaches being pursued towards controlled, energy producing, fusion plasmas. Then I will give more details about the sheared-flow-stabilized (SFS) Z-pinch concept that we are developing at Zap Energy. Without need for external confinement or heating technologies, the SFS Z pinch relies on plasma self-organization, and could provide the basis for a cost-effective fusion power plant.

Steve Richardson (Physics Ph.D., W&M) is a Senior Research Scientist at Zap Energy. He has spent his career studying and modeling plasmas at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and more than a decade with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. He has been with Zap Energy since November 2022, where he is helping to understand and improve shear-flow-stabilized z-pinch fusion and develop it into a commercially viable energy source.

This meeting is free and open to all, not just to Virtual Local Section members.  

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THREE MEETING OPTIONS

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PRIMARY MEETING (LIVE PRESENTATION/LIVE CHAT)

9:00 PM ET Wednesday, November 15, 2023

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ALTERNATE 1 (RECORDED PRESENTATION/LIVE CHAT)

7:00 AM ET Thursday, November 16, 2023

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ALTERNATE 2 (RECORDED PRESENTATION/LIVE CHAT)

1:00 PM ET Thursday, November 16, 2023

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