FUSION | REACTOR TECHNOLOGY
breakthroughs revealed
Fusion In this round-up we explore all the latest developments on the road to commercial power production from fusion reactors
WHILE NOT YET A REALITY, the realisation of commercial fusion is drawing closer if the level of private investment in fusion technology is any guide. According to the Global Fusion Industry in 2022 report
from the Fusion Industry Association, investment in private fusion companies has more than doubled over the last year. Over the same period, eight new fusion companies have been founded, bringing the total to more than 30. As an indication of the growing investor confidence in the fusion sector, six companies have now each raised more than $200m. Reported highlights over the last year include the $1.8bn going to Commonwealth Fusion Systems and $500m earmarked for Helion Energy. Overall, private fusion companies have announced close to $5bn of collective funding, up some 140% on the 2021 figures, the FIA says. In the USA, private investment in fusion has now exceeded state-backed funding for the first time. Although global state-funding still comes in greater than the private sector the ITER project remains a focus for much of the international effort. Perhaps the world’s best-known fusion project, first
plasma at ITER is now set to be pushed back again, this following the impact of the global pandemic and further
technical difficulties. Although the revised schedule has not yet been established, by some estimates first plasma is not now expected until 2027. The current schedule envisaged first plasma in 2025 and the start of operations with deuterium-tritium fuel in 2035. The new timetable is to be finalised after the appointment of a new director general following the death of former Director-General Bernard Bigot. The Council has launched a process to select a successor DG and the new schedule is expected to be approved by the ITER Council in spring 2023. Despite the delay, progress to complete the tokamak fusion device – under construction Saint-Paul-lès-Durance in southern France – is progressing. In May the first of nine sub-sections of the plasma chamber was lifted into the machine well. Weighing around 1,000 tonnes, the section forms one 40° arc of the vacuum vessel sector. It is fitted with thermal shields, and two toroidal field coils comprising superconducting electromagnets. Eight other similar assemblies will form the complete chamber. Once complete, the vacuum vessel will be 19.4 metres across and 11.4 metres high. It will have an interior volume of 1,400m3 contain 840m3
and can of plasma, 10 times more than the current largest operating tokomak. U
Above: First Light Fusion has had fusion reactions confirmed with its projectile technology Photo credit: First Light
www.neimagazine.com | August 2022 | 23
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