Jeff Bezos-Backed Company To Build Fusion Plant In UK

Source: https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/jeff-bezos-backed-company-build-fusion-plant-uk
Published: Jun 18, 2021
Author: Tyler Durden
Post Date: 2021-06-18 09:45:09 by Horse
Views: 236

Authored by Irina Slav via OilPrice.com,

Canadian General Fusion, a company backed by Amazon, is set to build a demonstration nuclear fusion reactor in Oxfordshire, the BBC reports, adding the facility will be 70 percent the size of a commercial reactor.

The news comes a couple of weeks after the UK government said it would start work to create a regulatory framework for supporting research and development of nuclear fusion technology to enable the delivery of clean and safe energy.

Nuclear fusion has been garnering growing attention amid government efforts to pursue an energy transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable sources of energy.

To date, the biggest project aiming to recreate the process by which the Sun generates energy is ITER in France, which is planned to begin operation in 2035, after a series of delays.

Another, very different, fusion project is taking place in California.

The researchers behind the General Atomics DIII-D National Fusion Facility recently published a paper suggesting a “compact nuclear fusion plant” concept can achieve 200 megawatts (MW) of net electricity after the energy cost of the fusion process through the use of relatively tiny, self-sustaining tokamaks powered by pressurized plasma, rather than the mega-tokamak of the ITER project.

In the UK, the Atomic Energy Authority is building the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP), a prototype fusion power plant it plans to be operational by 2040.

Last month, the AEA announced a breakthrough that would allow the components of the fusion reactor to last longer despite the intense heat produced during the fusion process, potentially bringing commercially viable fusion closer to reality.

China is also working on nuclear fusion.

In May, researchers working on the country’s artificial sun project announced they had achieved plasma of 120 million degrees Celsius for close to two minutes. The duration of the successful experiment shows hope, but it also shows the long road nuclear fusion has yet to go to reach commercial viability.

Post Comment   Private Reply

#1: Pinguinite    To: Horse (#0)

That will be a game changer. I think. Though just because fusion is waste free doesn't mean it will be cheap. And they still need to come up with the helium to use as fuel.

Pinguinite posted on 2021-06-18 12:19:31   Reply   Private Reply

#2: NeoconsNailed    To: Pinguinite (#1)

Hasn't helium been getting scarcer for years?

NeoconsNailed posted on 2021-06-18 16:21:36   Reply   Private Reply

#3: Pinguinite    To: NeoconsNailed (#2)

Hasn't helium been getting scarcer for years?

Don't know much about the stuff, but certainly it can only be mined or extracted from crude. Something like that. Certainly they aren't going to find any in the atmosphere.

But thinking on it, I may have it wrong. It's probably fusing hydrogen into helium, so helium is the waste product. But the hydrogen needed is an isotope, I think. They fuse hydrogen (one proton) which has 1 neutron with hydrogen with 2 neutrons, and get helium, which is 2 protons and 2 neutrons, with the extra neutron turning into energy.

It's cool stuff, but too lazy to look it up this evening.

Pinguinite posted on 2021-06-19 02:11:14   Reply   Private Reply

#4: NeoconsNailed    To: Pinguinite (#3)

I'm totally science-proof, but atomic stuff gives me the willies.

NeoconsNailed posted on 2021-06-19 08:37:32   Reply   Private Reply

#5: Anthem    To: Pinguinite, Horse (#1)

I have not discovered the reason why low pressure (so-called Thorium) fission reactors are not being implemented everywhere there is nuclear waste to dispose. The technology has been around and proven since 1965. It does not produce material for use in weapons, and consumes the stored nuclear waste material. Moreover, the design is much safer, as it is automatically shut down and cooled if there is a breach.

Anthem posted on 2021-06-21 06:55:49   Reply   Private Reply

#6: BTP Holdings    To: Anthem (#5)

I have not discovered the reason why low pressure (so-called Thorium) fission reactors are not being implemented everywhere there is nuclear waste to dispose. The technology has been around and proven since 1965. It does not produce material for use in weapons, and consumes the stored nuclear waste material. Moreover, the design is much safer, as it is automatically shut down and cooled if there is a breach.

The question that needs to be asked is how plentiful is Thorium?

Remember too that Hillary made a deal with the Russians for 20% of our Uranium. But Snopes says this is false.

Personally, I wouldn't give Hillary and even break for all the tea in China. ;)

BTP Holdings posted on 2021-06-21 17:53:45   Reply   Private Reply

#7: Anthem    To: BTP Holdings (#6)

The question that needs to be asked is how plentiful is Thorium?

If I recall correctly (IIRC), thorium is one of several possible materials that can be used. The key is to more completely burn the uranium based fuel.

When I have the time and energy I'll check my old links. Meanwhile, "low pressure nuclear reactor" should provide some search results.

Anthem posted on 2021-06-21 20:35:52   Reply   Private Reply

#8: Anthem    To: BTP Holdings (#6)

A quick search indicates that thorium is abundant.

Anthem posted on 2021-06-21 20:43:38   Reply   Private Reply

#9: NeoconsNailed    To: Pinguinite (#3)

That's plenty to go on -- wow. I figured it occurred somewhere in finite quantities in nature. "Once the gas leaks into the atmosphere, it is light enough to escape the Earth's gravitational field so it bleeds off into space, never to return. We may run out of helium within 25–30 years because it's being consumed so freely"

https://www.thoughtco.com/will-we-run-out-of-helium- 3975959#:~:text=Once%20the%20gas%20leaks%20into,it's%20being%20consumed% 20so%20freely.

On an unrelated but pithy note, radio news just said the 'non-hispanic white' population is shrinking, and at this rate most hiss-panic growth will be among 'people of color'.

NeoconsNailed posted on 2021-08-12 08:03:00   Reply   Private Reply

#10: BTP Holdings    To: Anthem (#8)

thorium is abundant

Yes, it is. ;)

BTP Holdings posted on 2021-08-12 08:13:16   Reply   Private Reply