UK company no longer plans to build its own nuclear power plant
UK-based nuclear fusion company First Light Fusion is shifting its strategy to capitalise on what it says are huge opportunities in the market for inertial fusion energy.
The company, whose headquarters are in Oxford, central England, said the move will enable it to generate earlier revenues and lower its long-term funding requirement.
First Light said in a statement that with a renewed strategy and business model, it will provide its unique amplifier technology to the fast-growing global inertial fusion energy industry.
Inertial fusion energy is a method of generating nuclear fusion power by compressing and heating a small pellet of fuel. It is also known as inertial confinement fusion or laser fusion.
Inertial fusion energy is one of two major branches of fusion energy research. The other is magnetic confinement fusion, which uses magnetic fields to confine fusion fuel in the form of a plasma. Magnetic confinement fusion is the method being pursued by the multinational €20bn ($21.5bn) International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter) project in southern France.
Under the new strategy, First Light plans to enter into commercial partnerships with other inertial fusion energy companies and schemes where its amplifier technology can form a critical and complementary part of a commercial fusion power plant. This replaces previous plans to build its own power plant based on a projectile fusion approach.
First Light will also partner with companies, universities and institutions in non-fusion sectors that can benefit from its technology and research facilities.
The company announced it is working with Nasa and the UK’s Open University to explore the potential applicability of its amplifier technology in high velocity impact testing.
First Light Fusion’s amplifier technology increases the efficacy of the fusion reaction by both boosting and converging the pressure of the projectile that is used to impact the fuel.
This approach means that instead of using complex and expensive lasers or magnets to generate or maintain the conditions for fusion, a fuel “target” is compressed using a projectile travelling at tremendous speed.
