Plant could offer ‘sustainable, carbon-free energy for generations’
US-based General Atomics has revealed a concept design for a nuclear fusion pilot plant featuring a steady-state, compact advanced tokamak capable of holding fusion plasma for extended periods of time and a liquid metal breeding blanket for generating tritium fuel.
The pilot facility would use the company’s proprietary fusion synthesis engine. The tokamak would use superconducting magnets to contain and shape the plasma with microwaves directed into the fuel to heat the plasma to over 100 million degrees Celsius. Silicon carbide would be used in the walls of the liquid metal breeding blanket that would breed tritium and carry heat away from the tokamak.
Fuelled primarily by isotopes of hydrogen found in seawater and capable of generating its own fuel during operation, the plant would provide baseload energy without any harmful emissions or long-lived waste, GA said. Capable of operating around the clock, commercialised fusion power plants would provide “sustainable, carbon-free firm energy for generations”.
The pilot facility would use the company’s proprietary fusion synthesis engine. The tokamak would use superconducting magnets to contain and shape the plasma with microwaves directed into the fuel to heat the plasma to over 100 million degrees Celsius. Silicon carbide would be used in the walls of the liquid metal breeding blanket that would breed tritium and carry heat away from the tokamak.
Fuelled primarily by isotopes of hydrogen found in seawater and capable of generating its own fuel during operation, the plant would provide baseload energy without any harmful emissions or long-lived waste, GA said. Capable of operating around the clock, commercialised fusion power plants would provide “sustainable, carbon-free firm energy for generations”.
“Excitement for fusion energy is at an all-time high, with historic interest from private industry and government,” said Anantha Krishnan, senior vice-president of the General Atomics Energy Group. “We look forward to working with our partners to make our vision for economic fusion energy a reality.”
Fusion is the process that powers the stars and offers the potential for nearly limitless clean energy. It occurs when two light nuclei combine to form a new one, releasing vast amounts of energy.
GA said researchers can achieve fusion using a “tokamak”, which uses heat and electromagnets to create the necessary heat and pressure to force the nuclei to fuse.
