Latest News

Filters

Filter by tags: United Kingdom France Nuclear fusion Tokamak Clear all tag filters

9 news articles found


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

The 28th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC), which is being held on-line from 10-25 May, has attracted a record 3,400 attendees, including both full participants and observers. The conference organisers include the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), and the ITER Organisation and the week-long programme takes full advantage of a powerful web platform.

Date: Wednesday, 12 May 2021
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsiaea-fusion-energy-conference-attracts-record-participation-8735698

Atkins, part of the SNC-Lavalin Group, said on 21 April that it had been appointed by the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to help design the world's first centre for researching tritium for use in fusion energy. The Hydrogen-3 Advanced Technology (H3AT) facility will be built at Culham Science Centre in Oxfordshire and will support ongoing work at the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) under construction in the South of France. This activity will also allow academic and industrial users to research how to process, store and recycle tritium, one of the fuels that will supply fusion power stations.

Date: Wednesday, 28 April 2021
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsatkins-awarded-design-contract-for-fusion-energy-research-centre-8702974

Plan is to generate first ultra-hot plasma at €20bn facility in 2025 The €20bn project will replicate the reactions that power the sun and is intended to demonstrate fusion power can be generated on a commercial scale. Photo courtesy Iter. The world’s largest nuclear fusion project began its five-year assembly phase on Tuesday in southern France, with the first ultra-hot plasma expected to be generated in late 2025.

The €20bn Iter (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) project will replicate the reactions that power the sun and is intended to demonstrate fusion power can be generated on a commercial scale.

The steel and concrete superstructures nestled in the hills of southern France will house a 23,000-tonne machine, known as a tokamak, capable of creating what is essentially an earthbound star.

Millions of components will be used to assemble the giant reactor, which will weigh 23,000 tonnes and the project is the most complex engineering endeavour in history. Almost 3,000 tonnes of superconducting magnets, some heavier than a jumbo jet, will be connected by 200km of superconducting cables, all kept at -269C by the world’s largest cryogenic plant.

Date: Wednesday, 29 July 2020
Original article: nucnet.org/news/world-s-largest-nuclear-fusion-project-under-assembly-in-france-7-2-2020

France’s Assystem announced that it will play a key role in the development of two separate nuclear fusion reactors with leading fusion research centres in China and the UK.

Date: Friday, 05 June 2020
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsassystem-to-participate-in-uk-and-chinese-fusion-projects-7955803

US-based Jacobs said it has been awarded several contracts worth more than $25 million in total for work on nuclear fusion projects in the UK and France.

Date: Thursday, 16 April 2020
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsjacobs-awarded-several-nuclear-fusion-contracts-7873764

Experimental and theoretical research has shown 'spherical' tokamaks to be a "fast route to fusion" compared with more "conventional" tokamak devices such as Joint European Torus (JET), according to David Kingham, chief executive of Tokamak Energy.

Date: Monday, 30 January 2017
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Spherical-tokamak-to-put-fusion-power-in-grid-by-2

Following UK media reports questioning the future of UK's Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE) and the Joint European Torus (JET) in the wake of the UK's expected withdrawal from the European Union (Brexit), CCFE head Ian Chapman said on 30 November that "nothing has changed". JET is the largest tokamak in the world and the only operational fusion experiment currently capable of producing fusion energy.

Date: Tuesday, 06 December 2016
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsconcern-over-future-of-uk-fusion-research-5689165