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Released October 13, 2021 | GALWAY, IRELAND
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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The U.K. has set out its ambitions to become a global player in the growing fusion power sector, with a strategy paper that outlines how it will leverage its scientific and commercial communities.
The "Towards Fusion Energy" strategy document outlines how the government will legislate and support "the safe and effective rollout of fusion energy". It highlights how there has been more than £1 billion (US$1.16 billion) spent on fusion research programmes in the country over the past decade.
This summer, Canada's General Fusion (Vancouver) announced it would work with the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to build the U.K.'s first nuclear fusion plant. Located at Culham, home to the UKAEA, it's the Fusion Demonstration Plant (FDP) will have a capacity of 80 megawatts (MW) and cost of US$400 million. It has a commissioning goal of 2025. The demonstration plant will be used to prove the company's Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) technology and pave the way for its subsequent commercial pilot plant. For additional information, see July 12, 2021, article--General Fusion Picks U.K. For First Nuclear Fusion Plant.
"Fusion could be the ultimate clean power solution, representing a low carbon, safe, continuous and sustainable source of energy," said George Freeman, U.K. minister for science, research and innovation. "The U.K. is widely recognised as a world leader in the most promising fusion technologies. We have the potential to capitalise on our scientific and technical expertise and lead the commercialisation of fusion energy. This is not science fiction but science fact. In the U.K., fusion research programmes have supported over £1 billion (US$1.16 billion) of U.K. economic activity over the last 10 years. Building on decades of study at globally unique research facilities, the U.K. Government has launched the world-leading STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) programme, to build a prototype fusion power plant in the U.K. by 2040."
In 2019, the U.K. government committed £220 million (US$272 million) for the early development of the STEP project. Lately, the government has been seeking a 100-hectare site where the project can be located and eventually plugged into the electricity grid to monitor how it functions. Two other leading U.K. fusion companies, Tokamak Energy and First Light Fusion, also are working towards proving their own technologies. Tokamak Energy is developing magnetic confinement fusion in a spherical tokamak, which is the same technological basis as UKAEA's programmes MAST-U and STEP. First Light Fusion is focusing on inertial confinement fusion technology using high velocity projectiles.
Industrial Info also is tracking the most advanced fusion power project, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), in France. The 20 billion-euro ($23.5 billion) endeavour is an international collaboration between the European Union (EU), China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the U.S.. It reached the construction halfway point at the end of 2017 and, earlier this year, final contracts were signed with the contractors that will help complete the project. The EU is funding almost half of the cost of its construction and the group believes that first fusion power will take place in 2025. For additional information, see January 25, 2021, article--Final Contracts Signed for Assembly of World's First Fusion Reactor.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn.
The "Towards Fusion Energy" strategy document outlines how the government will legislate and support "the safe and effective rollout of fusion energy". It highlights how there has been more than £1 billion (US$1.16 billion) spent on fusion research programmes in the country over the past decade.
This summer, Canada's General Fusion (Vancouver) announced it would work with the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to build the U.K.'s first nuclear fusion plant. Located at Culham, home to the UKAEA, it's the Fusion Demonstration Plant (FDP) will have a capacity of 80 megawatts (MW) and cost of US$400 million. It has a commissioning goal of 2025. The demonstration plant will be used to prove the company's Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) technology and pave the way for its subsequent commercial pilot plant. For additional information, see July 12, 2021, article--General Fusion Picks U.K. For First Nuclear Fusion Plant.
"Fusion could be the ultimate clean power solution, representing a low carbon, safe, continuous and sustainable source of energy," said George Freeman, U.K. minister for science, research and innovation. "The U.K. is widely recognised as a world leader in the most promising fusion technologies. We have the potential to capitalise on our scientific and technical expertise and lead the commercialisation of fusion energy. This is not science fiction but science fact. In the U.K., fusion research programmes have supported over £1 billion (US$1.16 billion) of U.K. economic activity over the last 10 years. Building on decades of study at globally unique research facilities, the U.K. Government has launched the world-leading STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) programme, to build a prototype fusion power plant in the U.K. by 2040."
In 2019, the U.K. government committed £220 million (US$272 million) for the early development of the STEP project. Lately, the government has been seeking a 100-hectare site where the project can be located and eventually plugged into the electricity grid to monitor how it functions. Two other leading U.K. fusion companies, Tokamak Energy and First Light Fusion, also are working towards proving their own technologies. Tokamak Energy is developing magnetic confinement fusion in a spherical tokamak, which is the same technological basis as UKAEA's programmes MAST-U and STEP. First Light Fusion is focusing on inertial confinement fusion technology using high velocity projectiles.
Industrial Info also is tracking the most advanced fusion power project, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), in France. The 20 billion-euro ($23.5 billion) endeavour is an international collaboration between the European Union (EU), China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the U.S.. It reached the construction halfway point at the end of 2017 and, earlier this year, final contracts were signed with the contractors that will help complete the project. The EU is funding almost half of the cost of its construction and the group believes that first fusion power will take place in 2025. For additional information, see January 25, 2021, article--Final Contracts Signed for Assembly of World's First Fusion Reactor.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn.
