Fusion

• We are likely to see a new generation of nuclear power stations by 2060-2070 based on nuclear fusion, which is a radically different technology from splitting the atom (fission) and involves fusing two different atoms together to release energy, with far less radioactive waste.
• Two UK companies leading efforts to reproduce the way the sun makes energy are both on the way to hitting significant milestones in their attempts to commercialise nuclear fusion by the 2030s.
• The ExCALIBUR project will establish a national capability in scientific computer software that mirror the real world, accelerating advances in a wide range of important areas that rely on cutting-edge computer technology: from climate prediction to drug research and nuclear fusion.
• Fusion energy as a viable commercial energy source is not expected to produce electricity before 2050, over 100 years after initial research efforts began during the 1940s.
• Agreement has been reached for the UK to participate in Euratom, Europe's nuclear body for research and training, and the world's largest nuclear-fusion experiment Iter, which is under construction in southern France and due to start operation in 2025.
• Many expect no viable form of fusion energy to be available until at least 2050.
• Fusion power could replace fossil fuels and conventional nuclear reactors.
• Billionaires including Jeff Bezos expect a major step toward commercially viable fusion in 2016.
• The new crop of fusion reactors appearing around the world will continue to play crucial roles in the chase for fusion.
• Fusion scientists expect ion beams to be part of the mix of plasma heating techniques.
• The long quest in the U.S. to mimic the sun's mighty power by mastering nuclear fusion has added a new goal - the development of compact, affordable fusion reactors that could be widely deployed by utilities in the century's second half.
• 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.
• Engineers started construction of the world's largest nuclear fusion project in southern France, with operations planned to begin in late 2025.
• The UK government plans to increase public R&D investment to £22bn per year by 2024-25, investing in people, ideas and industries in sectors including nuclear fusion and electric vehicles.
• Leadership in key technologies - The government will invest over £900 million to ensure UK businesses are leading the way in high-potential technology and sectors, including nuclear fusion, space, electric vehicles, and life sciences.
• £800 million is going to set up a new high-risk high-reward UK research agency modelled on the American Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and £900 million to supporting nuclear fusion technology, the National Space Strategy and Space Innovation Fund, and the e-vehicle supply chain.
• China plans to land humans on the Moon by 2030 and begin mining Helium-3, a valuable isotope used in nuclear fusion that the Moon has in abundance.
• A tokamak, like the huge one that will reach 200 million Celsius in China next year, is a nuclear fusion plasma reactor where extremely hot, charged plasma spins and generates virtually limitless energy.
• The UK will accelerate efforts to realise nuclear fusion energy through investment in a new UK fusion reactor design programme, known as STEP, which aims to deliver the world's first commercially viable fusion power plant by 2040.
• A virtually infinite source of energy, the controlled nuclear fusion of hydrogen, will probably be tapped within 50 years.

Last updated: 18 April 2021