Magnet & Cryogenic Cooling

Sustaining the burner's high-field magnets requires cryogenic refrigeration, a closed, sealed load that consumes electricity but essentially no water.

Why the magnets are cold

The burner's confinement relies on very high magnetic fields, a 26.49 T plug and a 17 T throat. Fields of this magnitude use superconducting or high-field magnet technology that must be held at cryogenic temperature. A refrigeration system removes the small but steady heat leak into the cold mass.

A sealed refrigeration load

• Cryogenic coolant (such as helium) circulates in a closed, sealed system
• The cold box rejects heat to a compressor loop, then to ambient
• Final rejection can be to air, keeping water consumption negligible

Cryogenic plants consume electrical power to run compressors, which is a parasitic load, but they do not consume water as a coolant. The working fluids are sealed and recirculated, not evaporated.

Parasitic power, not water

The honest trade for high-field magnets is electrical: refrigeration draws power that reduces net output. That is a power-balance consideration, addressed in the burner's design point, not a water consideration. The water story is unaffected because the cryogenic loop rejects its heat without evaporation.

Design-stage note

The magnet and cryogenic system is specified at the design level as part of the frozen point (26.49 T / 17 T). Detailed refrigeration sizing is a simulation and engineering task. Its contribution to the water footprint is, and will remain, essentially zero because the loops are closed.