Turning Fusion from a Dream to a Reality
Fusion 30 October 2021
Author: Dr. Aneeqa Khan, Research Fellow in Nuclear Fusion.
Nuclear fusion is the process that drives the sun. Unlike traditional nuclear power which involves splitting nuclei, fusion fuses nuclei together, liberating huge amounts of energy. It has the potential to be an abundant source of power that has very low carbon dioxide emissions
While fusion research has been ongoing for many decades, we are at a stage of huge growth, with ITER being built, the new UKAEA STEP programme and a huge number of private companies entering the scene. Nevertheless, significant challenges remain that must be overcome before fusion power is connected to the grid.
On 14 October 2021, I hosted a panel event for The University of Manchester’s Festival of Climate Action to discuss how we can make fusion power a reality. The panellists were from a broad range of backgrounds resulting in a very fruitful and thought provoking discussion. Each of the panellists were asked what they thought needed attention to get fusion power on the grid.
Andrew Holland, the CEO of the Fusion Industry Association, representing many of the new private companies kicked things off by highlighting the need for the United States Government to fully back fusion energy development, suggesting that only the U.S. government has such an ability from his perspective.
However, Sabina Griffith, Communications Officer at the ITER Organization, an international collaboration between 7 member states to build a tokamak, advised that a more collaborative approach is required, saying that we cannot just rely on one country. She stressed the importance of investing in global collaborations. She also highlighted the importance of education and training, making sure that the new generation is suitably qualified to bring fusion onto the market. Close collaboration with industry was also said to be key, developing robust supply chains to accelerate the progress of fusion.
We then heard from Dr. Kate Lancaster, a lecturer based at the University of York, with extensive experience in Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF), one of the techniques being pursued in fusion where tiny pellets of deuterium and tritium are compressed repeatedly for very short periods of time. She discussed the latest results from the National Ignition Facility, Lawrence Livermore National Lab, showing that ICF was in a really exciting and promising place, but that technically there was still a lot of work involving innovative approaches to move from being scientific research to industrial feasibility.
Next on the panel was Dr. Greg De Temmerman, Managing Director of the Zenon Research Think Tank, with previous experience at the ITER Organization, the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research and the UK Atomic Energy Authority. He spoke about the importance of timescales, and making sure we are realistic about the context within which fusion sits. As a community he said we need to try many different options and be honest about failure. It does not matter if many options fail, as long as something works, referencing projects such as the Apollo space missions. He also highlighted the importance of fusion moving away from being a purely scientific endeavour, which is of course interesting, but with the urgency of the climate emergency, a more industrial approach is required. As a fusion community we need to be clear that our mission needs to be to deliver energy.
Emre Yildirim, a PhD student at The University of Manchester as part of the Fusion Centre of Doctoral Training, discussed the importance of developing tritium production capabilities on a large scale. With tritium only having a half life of 12 years, and current tritium stores coming predominantly from CANDU nuclear fission reactors, it is vital that tritium development capabilities are prioritised as without enough fuel for the ‘Deuterium-Tritium’ reaction that is being pursued, even if we solve all the other technical challenges, scaling up power production would be very difficult without the fuel resources we need.
Finally, we ended with Professor Catherine Alexander, a social anthropologist at Durham University who is interested in large scale scientific collaborations, having worked in other industries with similar structures previously. She again highlighted the importance of being honest about failure, and that failure is not always a bad thing. When estimating delivery dates, we should not work back from timeframes such as 2050, but be honest about how long it takes to do things. She addressed the conflict that can arise between scientific interests and politics more broadly, from which fusion is not immune. She also said that in general we cannot only rely on ‘techno-fixes’ for climate change but need to address how much energy we are using, for what and who is using it. Otherwise we risk perpetuating environmentally-damaging processes, global socioeconomic inequalities and chasing after unsustainable growth for a select few.
This sparked a really interesting discussion amongst the panellists. Sabina said it was really important that we don’t over promise things. Andrew suggested that it was possible to have a high energy, low carbon future but also a low energy, high carbon future and that we should try to pursue the former. Other panellists disagreed; Kate said it is necessary to revaluate the need for continuous growth and consumption and Greg highlighted the vast inefficiencies in the US energy system (66% energy losses), as well as the huge global inequalities to access to electricity with some really shocking statistics, including that in sub-Saharan Africa, the average energy consumption is 14GJ/capita/year, in comparison to the Roman Empire 2000 years ago where the average energy consumption was 20 GJ/capita/year. There was a consensus that we need to improve efficiencies in electricity production and also make electricity more accessible globally. Following this we had several really interesting questions from the audience, including questions about the importance of collaborating with the fission industry and the broader public. We also discussed the huge progress that fusion has made since the last century.
All in all, I can honestly say that this was one of the most honest and engaging discussions I have heard about fusion. It was really thought provoking to hear from such a broad and excellent range of speakers, all with very different perspectives, as well as the fabulous contributions from the audience. Going forward it is clear that we must collaborate technically and politically, being realistic about our challenges and failures, honest about timescales, clear on our mission to deliver energy and move away from being only scientific researchers. We need to work on resource supplies, specifically tritium and more broadly make sure that the technology is accessible to all, and simultaneously address existing inefficiencies and inequalities so that we don’t simply perpetuate the unsustainable system we are living in. A tall order, but I think such discussions are the first steps in actions, and I think this discussion highlighted how far fusion has come and how important it is for all of us from different backgrounds to talk with each other to make real changes and progress.
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