SPECIAL REPORT | FUELLING THE SUN
Looking to fuel commercial fusion
As fusion moves from the research lab to industrial production it will come under more scrutiny over sustainability. It can have a good tale to tell on fuel procurement
Janet Wood
Expert author on energy issues
FUSION HAS BEEN ON THE far horizon for so long, that the practicalities of it as an industrial-scale generation fleet have not been to the forefront of discussion. In January, when the International Energy Agency published its Energy Technology Perspectives report for 2023 – one that heralded a “new industrial age – the age of clean energy technology” and examined global supply chains for energy technologies and fuels – fusion was not mentioned at all in the 450-page report. That has to change if recent successes in the industry, in developing the fusion process and attracting private investors, are to be translated into fleets of fusion reactors rolled out in a timescale of years rather than multiple decades. There are key development issues that have to be
solved in stepping up from a developing technology to a commercial industry both within the technology envelope (such as the heat transfer and power generation ‘balance of plant’) and in industry (such as developing the necessary supply chains and skills). They will be discussed in future issues of NEI. In this issue we look at fuel supply. In comparison with other power generation types,
nuclear’s fuel requirements are tiny, in terms of the volume of fuel required to produce terawatts of electrical energy. That does not mean they can be dismissed.
The fuel requirements for most nuclear fusion
reactor designs are deuterium and tritium. Deuterium is naturally occurring. Concentrations of deuterium in water vary, but typically there is one deuterium atom for around 7000 hydrogen atoms. It can be distilled from water and it is routinely produced for scientific and industrial applications. Deuterium can also be stored for long periods. Tritium presents a different challenge. Because its half-
life is around 12 years it cannot be stockpiled. In fusion reactors it is expected to be produced within the fusion reactor itself, ‘bred’ when neutrons escaping the plasma interact with lithium blanket or wall surrounding the tokamak (in this nuclear reaction the lithium absorbs the neutron and splits into tritium and helium). This means the fusion industry has to secure supplies of lithium that match its plans for growth. A 1000MW fusion reactor is said to require very small volumes of fuel in operation – around 125kg per year of deuterium and about the same weight of lithium. The first catch: this represents the lithium and deuterium
consumed during the year. The initial lithium blanket required at reactor start-up will be more of the order of 20 tonnes.
Above: Aerial view of ITER nuclear fusion reactor site in France Photo credit: Aerovista Luchtfotografie/
Shutterstock.com
16 | February 2023 |
www.neimagazine.com
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