INDUSTRY NEWS
Fusion energy materials roadmap announced for UK
The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and the Henry Royce Institute for advanced materials (Royce) have published a roadmap for developing materials for fusion energy. The roadmap, developed with the input of over a
hundred materials experts from the UK research community and industry, highlights five major areas of work required to enable the materials for future fusion power plants. Fusion – the same principle by which the sun creates heat and light – has the potential to be an abundant, low-carbon and safe part of the world’s future sustainable energy supply. Recent advances in the technology mean that prototype fusion power stations are now being designed, with the UK’s STEP plant due to go online in the early 2040s.
Offshore hydrogen safety implications study
DNV, the independent energy expert and assurance provider, is leading the process safety study to identify the main environmental, safety and operational risks for the world’s first offshore hydrogen production facilities. Lhyfe, a producer and supplier of
green and renewable hydrogen for transport and industry, and Centrale Nantes, a French school of engineering and research centre, manage the SEM-REV offshore test site. Lhyfe and Centrale Nantes’ ambitious goal is to make offshore renewable hydrogen a reality, by demonstrating the
reliability of an offshore electrolyser. It represents a world-first at a time when initiatives for offshore green hydrogen production are emerging across Europe. Located off the coast of Le
Croisic, France, the green hydrogen- generating system is intended to be powered by electricity from a floating wind turbine, with a target start-up date in 2022. As part of the design, DNV’s experts will undertake workshops and technical sessions to identify and analyse the main environmental, safety and operational risks associated with the project.
Identifying, developing and qualifying the right materials is key to delivering commercial fusion for two reasons. First, plant efficiencies, safety and availability often hinge on the quality of the component materials. Second, a sustainable fuel cycle requires highly productive fuel breeding materials.
Both plant components and
fuel breeder materials will need to withstand a highly challenging combination of neutron bombardment and thermal, magnetic, electric and mechanical loads in a tokamak power plant.
FIRST-OF-A-KIND PLANT
Cranfield University will join 19 research partners spread through 12 countries to develop a first- of-a-kind plant that couples concentrated solar power (CSP) and desalination techniques. The €10 million European
Union’s Horizon 2020 funded research and innovation programme will last four years. Innovative technologies related to both CSP and desalination will be designed to improve the efficiency of existing concepts. Improvements will be made on the independent systems but also on their coupling, taking advantage from the mutual interaction and potential. The final demonstration system will be a 2MWel power plant built in Saudi Arabia, bringing together two technologies for the first time.
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