The Continuum Paradigm: Electromagnetic System Integration for Industrial Fusion Reactors

Fusion reactor development has traditionally been approached through disciplinary silos, separating plasma physics, materials science, and thermal power conversion. While this approach has produced major advances in plasma confinement, it often leads to reactor architectures that behave as loosely coupled subsystems rather than integrated energy systems.

This work proposes the Continuum Paradigm, a conceptual systems framework that models industrial fusion reactors as integrated electromagnetic energy circuits. In this architecture, plasma exhaust channels, superconducting magnet systems, liquid metal blankets, and electromagnetic energy storage operate as components of a closed feedback loop.

The framework introduces four functional modules:

• self-bootstrapping magnetic field support through electromagnetic energy recovery
• active magnetohydrodynamic blanket control
• dynamic isotope composition management for plasma stability
• plasma-based separation loops for fuel recycling

Rather than proposing a new confinement geometry, the work focuses on system-level energy integration aimed at reducing recirculating power fractions and improving reactor stability in continuous operation regimes.

The Continuum Paradigm is presented as an open conceptual architecture intended to stimulate multiphysics modeling, systems engineering analysis, and future experimental validation in fusion reactor development.