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New report highlights current opportunities for progress in commercialisation of the technology The UK has shortlisted five sites as the potential future home of the country’s first prototype fusion energy plant. Courtesy UKAEA. Capital costs for the development of a new generation of nuclear fusion reactors are high at around £100/MWh, but a substantial programme of standard build could bring them down to a viable target of £60-£70/MWh, a report published by engineering group Assystem says.

According to the report, which examines the potential for fusion in the UK, the government has estimated the 2040 levelised costs of electricity (LCOE) for the UK for standalone offshore wind, onshore wind and large-scale solar of £40/MWh, £44/MWh and £33/MWh respectively.

The £60-£70/MWh cost for fusion “provides the first target for nuclear fusion to be economically competitive”, the report concludes. It says fusion is uncompetitive today with other low-carbon options available in the UK – including wind and light-water nuclear fission reactors. The reason for this is the combination of a relatively high construction cost (£5,887/kWe) and a low capacity factor (56%).

The International Energy Agency has put the LCOE for advanced nuclear at $63/MWh (about £45/MWh).

With an improved, large fusion design the construction cost decreases to £4,135/kWe and the capacity factor to 75%. These two effects improve the fusion economics, decreasing the LCOE into the range £60 to £97/MWh. For a small fusion design, the energy cost of 75 units is in the region of £69- £99/MWh – a range that is comparable to 10 units of large fusion reactors and also the energy cost of LWR fission reactors.

Date: Saturday, 23 October 2021
Original article: nucnet.org/news/capital-costs-are-high-but-can-be-reduced-to-economically-competitive-level-10-4-2021

Paris-based agency calls for work ‘across borders’ on essential technology Large, scientifically complex technologies such as nuclear power and small modular reactors have an important role to play in achieving net-zero targets, but need direct government investment in the early phases of development, in tandem with action to create more market value, according to a report released on 2 July by the International Energy Agency.

The report assesses the ways in which clean energy innovation can be significantly accelerated to achieve net-zero emissions while improving energy security in time to meet international climate and sustainable energy goals.

It concludes that without a major acceleration in clean energy innovation, countries and companies around the world will be unable to fulfil their pledges to bring their carbon emissions down to net-zero in the coming decades.

It calls on governments to take the initial investment risk in large-scale demonstrators that present a high-cost barrier to scale-up. Technologies like new nuclear designs, CCUS (carbon capture, usage and storage) for industrial facilities, fossil fuel-free iron and steel processes, and floating offshore wind all face high capital costs for the first commercial projects.

Date: Friday, 03 July 2020
Original article: nucnet.org/news/nuclear-has-vital-role-but-government-action-needed-7-4-2020

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