Tokamak Energy is a
fusion power research company based in the
United Kingdom, established in 2009.
The company employs over 200 people and holds over 50 families of patent applications. It has built several versions of
tokamaks, 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 superconductors (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
Spin-off may refer to:
*Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work
*Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity
* Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...
of the
Culham Centre for Fusion Energy based in
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
.
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
Step(s) or STEP may refer to:
Common meanings
* Stairs#Step, Steps, making a staircase
* Walking
* Dance move
* Military step, or march
** Marching
Arts Films and television
* Steps (TV series), ''Steps'' (TV series), Hong Kong
* Step (film), ' ...
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
*
DEMOnstration Power Station
*
Fusion Industry Association
*
Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production
References
External links
Tokamak Energy
Fusion power
Electric power companies of the United Kingdom
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