Description of need
According to Mohamad Abdallah, existing facilities are all national labs or government-based, and it’s a hassle to get access to them. Tokamak Energy would use these facilities for bench-top proof-of-principle R&D and also scaling of existing bench-top technologies.
A key requirement is the ability to perform integrated experiments. For example, need to work with neutrons, lithium, and other stuff not commonly found in these facilities. Need magnetic fields, air, water, nitrogen, hydrogen, gloveboxes in passivation environments, cryogenics. Tritium and lithium make everything more complicated.
Problem severity (1-10)
5
Who has this need
Fusion companies.
Total addressable market (TAM)
Unknown
Solutions today, and their shortcomings
Government-run facilities, e.g. at national laboratories. Private facilities haven’t materialized because the customers (i.e. fusion companies) don’t show up: most fusion companies are still very tight-pursed and cash-strapped and unwilling to buy third-party services without a source of non-dilutive funding (e.g. a government grant)
Potentially relevant capabilities
Unknown