A new partnership aims to see Europe establish the world’s first commercial nuclear fusion power plant by the end of the next decade. The race for fusion power is a global one. Last week, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission launched the process to develop a regulatory framework for the development and eventual deployment of fusion energy machines. China is believed to be drastically increasing both state and private investment in the as-yet unproven technology. The new development would put Europe in the vanguard as it looks to demonstrate the potential of fusion in real-world conditions.
The partnership sees fusion energy company Proxima Fusion coming together with the Free State of Bavaria in Germany, along with German energy giant RWE and the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP). It will involve a combination of private and state backing, with Proxima Fusion saying that it intends to finance around a fifth of the project’s total costs through private international investors. Bavaria has indicated a potential state contribution of another fifth, with RWE saying that it could also contribute financially. Proxima Fusion will be in charge of the engineering and construction of the facilities, while RWE will help to operate the large-scale power generation assets.
Project would use a nuclear fission device known as a stellerator
Current nuclear energy technologies use a process known as nuclear fission, where atoms are split into smaller ones, releasing huge amounts of energy. Nuclear fusion involves joining two or more atomic nuclei into a larger one and is the process that powers the sun and other stars. The new European partnership will first aim to demonstrate that nuclear fusion is possible to harness on an industrial scale. The first major step towards this will be building a demonstration stellarator known as Alpha. This is a type of magnetic confinement fusion device designed to control superheated plasma using complex magnetic fields.
While most fusion developers are focusing on mechanically simpler devices known as tokamaks, stellarators are potentially better at keeping the plasma stable. The facility will also provide a test platform for other fusion components and systems under operational conditions, with the aim of developing a subsequent commercial plant named Stellaris. One of the main aims of Alpha is to demonstrate a net energy gain, meaning that the facility is able to produce more energy than it uses to power the processes.
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