![]() ![]() ![]() Proponents of nuclear fusion believe it will end the world's dependence on fossil fuels once and forever.īut the catch is that no-one involved in the research believes a fully operational, commercially viable nuclear fusion reactor will be operating before at least 2050. We've got to be cost-competitive with oil, gas, coal and renewables." Future focused or fantastic folly? "That really makes the difference to commercial deployability of the technology. "If you can double the field strength of your device, reduce the size substantially, it becomes a lot cheaper but it can produce the same amount of power," he says. He also agrees with Dr Kingham that a focus on developing high-temperature superconducting magnets is a priority. "It looks like if you go down that route alone you'll end up with a very expensive solution which won't be commercially deployable, and that's why we are keen on innovations which will reduce the cost," he says. Like Dr Kingham, STEP's boss Howard Wilson is cautiously critical of the approach taken by ITER. Prime Minister Boris Johnson even made it part of his re-election pitch during December's election. Tokamak Energy is yet to produce a fusion reaction at its test facility in Oxfordshire. "I think private investors can see solid scientific foundations for the business," he says. One of them involves the company Tokamak Energy, whose executive vice chairman is Dr Kingham. In both North America and the United Kingdom there are numerous projects operating on a smaller scale. ITER isn't the only nuclear fusion initiative underway. "The second goal is to be able to maintain that condition for many minutes at a time, so maybe 10 minutes, up to an hour, and that's what you would need for a steady-state power reactor." Scale and manageability "ITER consumes 50 megawatts of power to produce this plasma at 150 million degrees, and the goal is to produce 500 megawatts of power from that plasma," he says. The first plasma experiments are now expected to begin in 2025.įor ITER to be considered a success, according to Professor Garrett, it must demonstrate that it can achieve an energy gain of a factor of 10. ![]()
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