- Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), the world’s largest fusion energy company, is the first international company to join the UK national fusion laboratory’s flagship programme to test new tritium blanket technologies.
- CFS to gain early access to world-leading infrastructure for blanket testing, which includes a customised large-scale neutron source.
- The agreement builds on momentum from the King’s Address to the U.S. Congress in April.
The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) today announced that Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), the largest fusion energy company, will be the first international company to participate in UKAEA’s flagship Lithium Breeding Tritium Innovation programme (LIBRTI).
LIBRTI is a £220 million UK government initiative that aims to demonstrate net tritium production – a vital capability for commercialising fusion energy that means fusion power plants can produce enough of this fuel component to cover their own use.
The programme is creating a first-of-a-kind technology facility at UKAEA’s Culham Campus following the recent acquisition of a high-flux neutron source.
In a fusion power plant, a blanket is the region where neutrons from the fusion process strike lithium atoms that then turn into tritium, a form of hydrogen used as fusion fuel. The production technique is called breeding, and the new LIBRTI facility will enable industry partners to develop and verify their blanket technologies in fusion environments representative of full-scale machines.
CFS is a private company based in Devens, Massachusetts, that spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2018. The company has raised more than US$3 billion in private capital, making it the best-funded fusion energy company globally. CFS is currently building its SPARC fusion demonstration machine and expects to generate electricity from its first ARC fusion power plant in Virginia in the United States in the early 2030s.
CFS and UKAEA will work together, designing the experimental setup, developing testing protocols, and conducting experiments at the LIBRTI facility. CFS will build the test articles to be used in the first investigations.
Tim Bestwick, CEO, UKAEA, said
The UK Fusion Strategy emphasises the UK’s position as a leader in fusion research while recognising the value of continued global collaboration.
Amanda Quadling, Senior Responsible Officer, LIBRTI, said
Welcoming CFS is a defining moment for LIBRTI. Their participation adds momentum to our own efforts and accelerates the global pathway to demonstrated fusion power plant scale technology.
Brandon Sorbom, Co-founder and Chief Science Officer, CFS, said
LIBRTI’s specialised testing capabilities will allow us to demonstrate net tritium production and increase confidence in our ARC blanket system design. Through this collaboration, CFS will gain hands-on experience engineering and building blanket systems directly representative of our commercial fusion power plant. We’re thrilled to partner with UKAEA and the LIBRTI team as an early user.
Heena Mutha, Director of Fuel Cycle and Blanket Technology, CFS, said
It’s an incredible moment for the fusion industry that we’re building the capability to investigate the performance of blankets in a fusion-relevant environment. We look forward to this collaboration with the UKAEA and LIBRTI.