FUSION | REACTOR TECHNOLOGY Japan’s Kyoto Fusioneering Ltd has also completed the


preliminary design of an integrated testing facility for testing power generation systems for fusion reactors. The Unique Integrated Testing Facility (UNITY) will test both the heat extraction and fuel cycle systems, allowing companies to focus resources on fusion power core development. UNITY is to be equipped with a test blanket module, primary cooling loops with both liquid metal and molten salt, heat exchangers, a tritium recovery system, and an electricity generator. They will be integrated with a test diverter module, tritium pumps, and a tritium fuel circulation system. These components are not only be required for the DEMO-type plant, which will follow ITER, but are also needed for power plant designs being developed in the private sector. Construction is due to start in Japan around August with


the testing loop scheduled to be completed by March 2023. Full UNITY construction and the subsequent demonstration of electricity generation is planned by the end of 2025. A number of novel fusion reactor developments have also taken place recently.


Fusion breakthroughs The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has independently validated that First Light Fusion has achieved fusion. This is the first time that fusion has been achieved using the unique targets developed by First Light. First Light aims to solve the problem of fusion power with the simplest machine possible and its projectile technology. Projectile fusion is a new approach to inertial fusion that is simpler, more energy efficient, and has lower physics risk, First Light says. Instead of using complex and expensive lasers or


magnets to generate or maintain the conditions needed for fusion, First Light used its two-stage hyper-velocity gas gun to launch a projectile at a target containing the fusion fuel. First Light’s key technology is the target design, which


focuses the energy of the projectile, imploding the fuel to the temperatures and densities needed to make fusion happen. “The projectile reached a speed of 6.5 km per second


before impact. First Light’s highly sophisticated target focuses this impact, with the fuel accelerated to over 70 km per second as it implodes, an increase in velocity achieved through our proprietary advanced target design, making it the fastest moving object on earth at that point,” First Light explained in a statement. First Light’s power plant design involves the target being


dropped into the reaction chamber and the projectile launched downwards through the same entrance, so it catches up with and impacts the target at the right moment and a pulse of fusion energy is released. That energy is absorbed by lithium flowing inside the chamber, heating it up. The flowing liquid protects the chamber from the huge energy release, sidestepping some of the most difficult engineering issues in other approaches to fusion. Finally, a heat exchanger transfers the heat of the lithium to water and a conventional steam cycle to generate electricity. UKAEA was invited to analyse and validate First Light’s


fusion results before they were made public and confirmed that there is evidence First Light has produced neutrons consistent with those produced from the fusion of deuterium fuel. With its relatively simple equipment, built in large part


from readily available components, the University of Oxford spin-out achieved fusion having spent less than £45m (US$58.5m). First Light also claims a rate of performance improvement faster than any other fusion scheme in history. A peer reviewed analysis conducted by First Light shows that projectile fusion offers a pathway to a very competitive Levelised Cost Of Energy (LCOE) of under $50/ MWh, directly competing on cost with renewables. Plans for a “gain” experiment – in which more energy is


generated than is put in – are advancing. First Light expects to partner with existing power producers to develop a roughly 150 MWe pilot plant costing less than US$1bn in the 2030s. The company is already working with UBS Investment Bank to explore strategic options for the next phase of its scientific and commercial development. Meanwhile, Australia’s first fusion energy company, HB11


Energy, said it had “demonstrated a world-first ‘material’ number of fusion reactions by a private company, producing ten times more fusion reactions than expected based on earlier experiments at the same facility”. HB11 Energy’s results were published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal, Applied Sciences, and demonstrate non-thermal fusion of hydrogen and boron-11 using high-power lasers. This approach differs radically from most other fusion efforts to date that require heating of hydrogen isotopes to millions of degrees, the company noted. HB11 Energy’s research demonstrated that its hydrogen-


boron energy technology is now four orders of magnitude away from achieving net energy gain when catalysed by a laser, it says. The project was performed at the LFEX petawatt laser


facility at Osaka University in Japan as there is no high- power laser facility in Australia. Commenting on the development Dr Warren McKenzie,


co-founder and managing director of HB11 Energy, said: “Our unique approach to large-scale clean electricity generation uses an aneutronic fusion reaction between hydrogen and boron-11 that does not use any radioactive fuels or generate uncontrollable radioactive waste. Achieving this on a large scale would be a game-changer, but to do this locally we will need significant investment in our sovereign capability, including having a petawatt laser in Australia.” HB11 Energy claims it is now the global frontrunner in


the race to commercialise fusion. Its results came just before the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the US Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory also demonstrated laser- driven fusion.


These developments are a strong indication not just


of growing confidence in the fusion industry, but also the likelihood of commercial fusion becoming reality within the moving 50-year window of long-standing repute. According to an FIA survey of people working in private


fusion companies, more than 90% believe fusion power will be supplying the grid by the 2030s and over 80% think fusion will be considered commercially viable in a similar timeframe. As Andrew Holland, Chief Executive Officer of the Fusion Industry Association, says: “Fusion is on a pathway towards commercial relevance, at a time when the world desperately needs new clean energy options. With investment accelerating, it is increasingly likely that commercial fusion will become a reality within the next two decades, providing the basis for prosperity, safety, and security for many years to come”. ■


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