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  [22]Nuclear
  The UK’s quest for affordable fusion by 2040
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  (Image credit: UAEA)
  Step reactor cutaway (Credit: UAEA)
  By Peter Ray Allison15th December 2020
  For decades, fusion has been the alchemy of our technological age. So,
  how feasible is the UK’s plan to build a commercially viable fusion
  power plant by 2040?
  T

  The science of nuclear fusion was proven in the early 1930s, after
  fusion of hydrogen isotopes was achieved in a laboratory. And we see
  fusion in action every day. The stars, including our Sun, are giant
  self-sustaining fusion reactors.

  Fusion in a star operates by intense gravitational forces compressing
  matter together, forcing atoms to fuse and become heavier, releasing
  energy as they do so. Replicating this process in a fusion reactor here
  on Earth, however, is complex and presents significant engineering
  challenges.

  In many ways, fusion shares characteristics with alchemy. Just as
  alchemists spent decades of their lives trying to turn other metals
  into gold, fusion is the process that allows lightweight atomic nuclei
  to combine to form a heavier nucleus, creating a different chemical
  element.

  What kept the alchemists going was the knowledge that since gold
  clearly did exist, it had to have been created somehow. What they did
  not realise at the time was that heavy elements, such as gold, were
  actually created by fusion – albeit fusion in dying stars that
  exploded, scattering material into space. Fusion and alchemy,
  therefore, are more closely linked than people realise. Sadly for any
  modern-day alchemists, due to the vast amounts of energy needed to
  kickstart fusion reactions between atoms, attempts to harness fusion on
  Earth need lightweight elements to work, so gold will not be a
  byproduct.

  Fusion reactors operate by superheating hydrogen isotopes to over 15
  million degrees Centigrade, which is as hot as the Sun. This creates
  plasma, which is a fourth state of matter. The plasma is compressed,
  using magnets for example, to fuse the hydrogen isotopes together,
  producing helium and high-speed neutrons that shoot outwards. These
  release 17.6MeV (megaelectron volts) of energy per reaction,
  approximately 10 million times greater than those found in typical
  chemical combustions.

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  Unlike nuclear fission, which breaks heavy atoms apart, nuclear fusion
  compresses light atoms together. This means there is far less harmful
  waste created by fusion. Neutron bombardment causes a fusion plant to
  become slightly radioactive, however these radioactive products are
  short-lived. Fusion therefore offers the tantalising potential for
  near-limitless, climate-friendly energy production that doesn’t come
  with a shadow of radioactive waste.

  Test reactors, such as the [28]Joint European Torus (Jet) at Culham in
  England, have proved fusion is possible, albeit for short periods of
  time. The challenge is turning these experimental reactors into an
  ongoing process that is commercially viable. For this, it would need to
  generate more power than is needed to keep the fusion reaction going.
  The Iter reactor's first assembly stage was launched earlier this year
  (Credit: Clement Mahoudeau/AFP/Getty Images)

  The Iter reactor's first assembly stage was launched earlier this year
  (Credit: Clement Mahoudeau/AFP/Getty Images)

  For decades, we have been promised that commercial fusion power plants
  will exist within 30 years. As far back as 1955, the physicist Homi J
  Bhabha claimed we would have fusion power within two decades. This
  claim, and many others since, have repeatedly failed to be achieved.
  The promise is eternal, but fusion always seems that same distance
  away.

  We understand how fusion operates in ideal conditions. Unfortunately,
  reality is rarely ideal. Fusion is an engineering challenge, rather
  than a scientific one. “The biggest challenge isn’t about the science,
  but the fact that scientists have to now deliver something in a
  practical sense,” says Andrew Storer, chief executive of the UK's
  [29]Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre.

  However, things could be about to change. Last year, the UK government
  [30]announced their plans for a fully working fusion reactor by 2040.
  The first stage of this has been developing a masterplan for the
  Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (Step) fusion reactor, a design
  unique to the UK’s fusion research. The hunt is now on for a suitable
  UK site for the Step reactor.

Meanwhile, the Iter fusion reactor in France is currently 70% constructed and
is expected to achieve first plasma in 2025

  However, building a fully working, commercially-viable, fusion reactor
  in 20 years is a colossal undertaking. For comparison, the [31]Hinkley
  Point C nuclear fission reactor is expected to be completed by 2025. It
  will have taken 15 years, from proposal to completion, and will use
  existing nuclear fission technology that has been around since the
  1950s.

  Meanwhile, the Iter fusion reactor in France is currently 70%
  constructed and is expected to achieve first plasma in 2025. This is
  will be a fully-working demonstration fusion reactor, providing 500
  megawatts of fusion power – enough, if converted to electricity, to
  power a city the size of Liverpool.

  “There are so many things about Iter that almost seem like science
  fiction,” says Ian Chapman, chief executive of the [32]UK Atomic Energy
  Authority. “There is a magnet that goes down the middle of Iter, the
  biggest magnet that can be made. The magnetic impulse produced could
  lift an aircraft right out of the ocean.”

  However, Iter is vastly different to the design for the UK’s Step
  reactor. Iter uses a doughnut-shaped reactor design, but Step will use
  a spherical tokamak design, which is more compact. This reduction in
  size will mean that the magnets can be much smaller, potentially saving
  millions of pounds.
  Building a working fusion reactor in just 20 years is a colossal
  undertaking (Credit: UAEA)

  Building a working fusion reactor in just 20 years is a colossal
  undertaking (Credit: UAEA)

  Part of the plan to support the building of the Step reactor is the new
  fusion research facility to be constructed alongside the Nuclear AMRC
  in Rotherham. This will take the concept design for the reactor and
  transform it into buildable components that are ready for use in
  industry.

  One of the main advances in fusion research that makes Step viable is
  the Super-X [33]divertor. As fusion involves temperatures as hot as the
  Sun, this heat has to go somewhere. If the vessel’s walls experience
  this thermal load, they would instantly melt, causing the fusion to
  fail. Instead, this plasma exhaust, is directed towards the divertor.

  “Plasma exhaust is one of the key technical challenges facing fusion.
  Byproducts and excess heat from the plasma will need to be removed,
  without damaging the surrounding surfaces. We do this with an exhaust
  system known as a divertor,” says Chapman. “The new system we’re
  trialling at the Mast Upgrade should reduce the heat to manageable
  levels, such as that found in a car engine.”

One way to make the 2040 date more achievable could be to use part of an
existing power plant

  The divertor allows the waste material created during the fusion
  process to be removed as the reactor is working. As the high-energy
  plasma particles strike the targets, their kinetic energy is
  transformed into heat, which is removed by various cooling methods.

  The [34]Mast Upgrade achieved [35]first plasma at Culham in October
  2020.

  One way to make the 2040 date more achievable could be to use part of
  an existing power plant, with the old power-generation system replaced
  with the new Step reactor. The benefit of this is that the energy
  conversion process, for creating electricity, remains the same.

  “If the decision is made to build the Tokamak, but to utilise an
  existing site with an existing turbine building, then it becomes a lot
  more feasible to me,” says Storer. “All that time and cost has already
  been sunk.”

  The main hurdle will be the interface between the new fusion reactor
  and existing power plant. Sadly, there is no such thing as a USB port
  for power plants. However, the time and cost of having to build an
  entirely new power plant is significant. The comparatively small size
  of the Step reactor is also advantageous.

  The promise of "the Sun in a bottle" has meant incalculable time,
  energy and resources invested this vision of a clean, never-ending fuel
  source. It could have been argued in the 1930s that fusion was folly.
  But now, we could genuinely have fusion within a few decades’ time.

  --

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