UKAEA chief executive officer Professor Ian Chapman, recently acknowledged the UK as a global leader in fusion research and declared that the UK can lead the way in designing the first fusion power stations. We are in agreement on this, but I believe that private companies also have an important role to play, and that the UK is benefitting already.
Over several decades, the publicly-supported fusion research in Oxfordshire has made decisive contributions to the understanding of this safe, abundant source of clean energy. Continued government support for the Oxfordshire fusion cluster, based at Culham, will help to maintain our place as fusion world leaders.
However, the work of this cluster is also already benefiting the national economy as well as simply developing our knowledge of fusion. It is attracting investment, encouraging innovation, creating and sustaining jobs, and developing skills. There are more than 1,000 individuals employed in fusion energy research and 800 suppliers whose jobs rely on the research. Moreover, there has been £84 million Gross Value Added per year, £300 million of exports, and multiple spin-off technologies including advanced materials, cryogenics, remote handling and high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets.
Tokamak Energy, a world-leader in small, modular fusion reactors, has alone attracted more than $25 million of investment. Private investment in fusion energy is growing rapidly across the world and has an important part to play in the future of Culham Laboratory too. We are demonstrating how investment is enabling private companies to develop new, faster routes to fusion energy. Our second tokamak device, the ST25 HTS, was the world’s first tokamak with exclusively HTS magnets, and in 2015 demonstrated continuous operation for 29 hours – a world record. Our third reactor, the ST40, is due to launch in May and will showcase the ‘compact, spherical’ tokamak route to fusion power, acknowledged as the most promising route to achieving and deploying fusion before 2050.
The $25 million of private investment has enabled our first steps towards the bold and ambitious goal of fusion power into the grid by 2030. With knowledge acquired from ST40 we will construct a Fusion Power Demonstrator tokamak by 2025. This will then form the basis of a first-of-a-kind power-plant module.
I share Professor Chapman’s commitment to ensuring the UK leads the fusion power race. However, the future of fusion energy will increasingly depend on private companies working alongside government-funded research – private companies with ambitious approaches and timelines, supported and underpinned by continuing government investment in fundamental fusion science and related materials research. Further investment in these private companies will drive us towards commercialisation and deliver greater economic good through clean, carbon-free energy for all.
Dr David Kingham is chief executive of Tokamak Energy.
