Overview of SPARC Progress: Construction, Manufacturing, and Operational Planning*

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) and its partners are building SPARC, a high field (B_T = 12.2 T), compact (R₀ = 1.85 m, a = 0.57 m) tokamak designed to achieve Q~11 and P_fusion~140 MW at H₉₈ = 1.0.  SPARC is under construction in Devens, Massachusetts and has progressed significantly in the past year.  Tokamak and plant buildings are nearing completion and installation of the SPARC cryostat base is anticipated by the end of 2023.  SPARC magnets are in manufacturing at the CFS magnet factory and will be tested at temperature before assembly into SPARC. Major procured items, such as the vacuum vessel and cryoplant, are well into production at vendors and will be arriving throughout 2024.  Early SPARC operation will focus on commissioning the machine and then achieving Q > 1 in DT L-mode plasmas, which have recently been thoroughly analyzed.  SPARC will then transition to studying H-mode in deuterium, before pushing to full power DT operation.  Throughout, a primary focus of SPARC's research program will be to inform ARC design and operation.