Fusion Systems Design

Columbia students and staff participate in fusion design studies where they develop innovative concepts for fusion devices that satisfy physics, engineering and economic constraints.

CAD of MANTA, a negative triangularity pilot plant designed by students from Columbia University and MIT

Fusion Systems Design

As part of a joint Fusion Design course offered in Fall 2022, Columbia and MIT graduate students collaborated to design a negative triangularity fusion pilot plant that satisfies and exceeds the requirements described in the 2021 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report 'Bringing Fusion to the U.S. Grid' (2021 Bringing Fusion to the U.S. Grid).  The MANTA (Modular Adjustable Negative Triangularity ARC) tokamak design study presents a comprehensive tokamak concept incorporating an integrated plasma core scenario, power handling solutions, magnet design and maintenance, nuclear analysis, and a complete economic assessment. 

The MANTA collaboration et al, "MANTA: a negative-triangularity NASEM-compliant fusion pilot plant," Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 66, 105006 (2024)

H. Wilson et al, "Characterizing the negative triangularity reactor core operating space with integrated modeling," Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 67, 015026 (2024) 

M. Miller et al, "Power handling in a highly-radiative negative triangularity pilot plant," Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 66, 125004 (2024)

Relevant data files for the integrated core modeling of the MANTA tokamak are publicly available on GitHub!

Prof. Paz-Soldan

Haley Wilson

Our Projects have been supported by funding from:
U.S. Department of Energy - Fusion Energy Sciences
Columbia Affiliations
Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics
Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science