Power Conversion

A plasma-gain result is not electricity. A fusion power plant still has to capture reaction energy as heat, move it through a coolant loop, and convert it in a thermodynamic cycle — and the efficiency of that back end strongly shapes the plant’s economics. In a D–T reactor most of the energy arrives as neutrons deposited in the blanket, which transfers heat to a coolant such as helium, water, or liquid metal, much like the steam supply of a conventional thermal plant.

The conversion cycle can be a conventional Rankine steam cycle, a helium Brayton cycle, or a supercritical carbon-dioxide cycle that promises high efficiency in a compact turbomachine. Higher coolant temperature buys higher efficiency but stresses materials, so plant efficiency is a negotiation between the blanket, the materials domain, and the turbine hall. Aneutronic concepts open a different door: charged fusion products can in principle be converted directly to electricity without a heat cycle at all.

Fusion’s steady, firm output also suits more than just electricity. The ten topics — heat exchangers, coolant loops, steam cycles, supercritical CO₂, direct conversion, thermal storage, plant efficiency, grid dispatch, industrial heat, desalination coupling, and hydrogen production — cover both the machine that makes power and the markets that firm, store, and use it.