Tokamak Energy is a
fusion power
Fusion power is a proposed form of power generation that would generate electricity by using heat from nuclear fusion reactions. In a fusion process, two lighter atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, while releasing energy. Devices de ...
research company based in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, established in 2009.
The company employs over 200 people and holds over 50 families of patent applications. It has built several versions of
tokamak
A tokamak (; russian: токамáк; otk, 𐱃𐰸𐰢𐰴, Toḳamaḳ) is a device which uses a powerful magnetic field to confine plasma in the shape of a torus. The tokamak is one of several types of magnetic confinement devices being ...
s, in the form of
spherical tokamak
A spherical tokamak is a type of fusion power device based on the tokamak principle. It is notable for its very narrow profile, or '' aspect ratio''. A traditional tokamak has a toroidal confinement area that gives it an overall shape similar to ...
s, with the final aim of reaching commercial fusion power generation.
One of the first was the copper-based ST-25; in 2015 this was upgraded with
rare earth–barium–copper oxide (REBCO)
high temperature superconductor
High-temperature superconductors (abbreviated high-c or HTS) are defined as materials that behave as superconductors at temperatures above , the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. The adjective "high temperature" is only in respect to previ ...
s (HTS) to the ST-25HTS.
The most recent tokamak developed, the ST-40, reached 15 million degrees Celsius in 2018.
Tokamak Energy is a
spin-off of the
Culham Centre for Fusion Energy
The Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE) is the UK's national laboratory for fusion research. It is located at the Culham Science Centre, near Culham, Oxfordshire, and is the site of the Joint European Torus (JET), Mega Ampere Spherical Tokam ...
based in
Oxfordshire.
As of April 2021, the company has raised over £117m from private investors including
L&G Capital,
Dr. Hans-Peter Wild, and David Harding, CEO of
Winton Capital.
The company aims for energy breakeven in 2025 with the ST-40's successor, the planned ST-F1, and for a commercial grid-connected reactor for 2030 with the ST-E1. Tokamak Energy plans to built compact modular fusion reactors of around 150 MW.
In March 2022, Tokamak Energy's ST40 spherical tokamak achieved a landmark plasma temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius. In October 2022, the
UKAEA
The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of fusion energy. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy ...
and Tokamak Energy announced a framework agreement for a five-year partnership to collaborate on developing spherical tokamaks, in the UKAEA's case to work towards its
STEP machine. The partnership will involve cooperating on diagnostics and remote handling; equipment, facilities, and staff; the fuel cycle; materials development and testing, including HTS; and power generation.
See also
*
China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor
*
Commonwealth Fusion Systems
Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) is an American company founded in 2018 aiming to build a compact fusion power plant based on the ARC tokamak power plant concept. The company is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is a spin-off of the Massa ...
*
DEMOnstration Power Station
DEMO refers to a proposed class of nuclear fusion experimental reactors that are intended to demonstrate the net production of electric power from nuclear fusion. Most of the ITER partners have plans for their own DEMO-class reactors. With the p ...
*
Fusion Industry Association
*
Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production
Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) is a spherical tokamak fusion plant concept proposed by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and funded by UK government. The project is a proposed DEMO-class successor device to the ITER tokam ...
References
External links
Tokamak Energy
Fusion power
Electric power companies of the United Kingdom
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