SPECIAL REPORT | FUELLING THE SUN
Right: Pegmatite rocks like these in Spain are a potential source of lithium
V This means that if the fusion industry is to play a
significant part in meeting demand (including to charge the millions of electric vehicles) it will become a significant lithium customer. One important point for the fusion industry is that its fuel supply marks a distinct difference from the uranium industry, where the nuclear industry is (almost) the only consumer. It places the fusion industry in a different position: being one of many customers offers protection if fusion development is slow or interrupted, because lithium production will continue for other markets. But it also means fusion plant operators will have powerful competitors in securing necessary supplies of lithium. In addition, the price of lithium may be volatile – it has risen in recent years in response to increased demand, but prices dropped again over the last year as abstraction companies responded to growing demand and higher prices by finding new resources. The nascent fusion industry may have little market power
to secure lithium at low price – but should that be the industry’s aim? At this point recycling lithium is in its infancy. The
IEA raises the option of recycling lithium batteries but says this is difficult due to their complex composition. Pyrometallurgy – smelting the battery to separate its metals - is not currently adapted to recover lithium. An alternative
method, cathode healing, requires battery components to be physically unpackaged, separated and recycled or reused. Under the US Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act the Department of Energy has allocated $3bn in funding for battery manufacturing – largely new lithium sources such as Lilac Solutions production from low concentration brine and recycling but also Cirba Solutions is developing a facility to recycle lithium-ion batteries. It is likely that recycling EV batteries will become
commonplace in future but behind them come different types of battery or other uses where recovering the lithium is more difficult. What does this offer for fusion? Even more than in
the case of fission, fuel (lithium) cost will be a small part of overall generation cost and processing is required to abstract the volume of Li-6 required. This suggests the industry can take the option to pay above rock bottom prices for its lithium. It could decide to pay a premium price to help develop lithium recycling facilities and fuel the fusion industry – possibly in its entirety - from lithium that would otherwise enter the waste stream. In fact, fusion’s requirement for lithium gives it an opportunity for a wholly beneficial story on the ‘fuel cycle front end’. An industry that provides power from the sun – and fuels
it from waste – would surely be the electricity industry of the future. ■
Right: The target chamber at the US National Ignition Facility, location of a recent fusion breakthrough Photo credit: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
18 | February 2023 |
www.neimagazine.com
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