FST JOURNAL

Summary:

• Fusion could play a crucial role in energy security and decarbonisation.
• Fusion has potentially abundant resources, is carbon free, it’s energy dense and has few waste issues.
• The UK has a fantastic record in fusion and a strong institutional set up. We need to hold onto that and grow it.
• A new fusion strategy was published in Autumn 2023 with strong objectives demonstrating commercial viability and moving towards a private sector in fusion.
• It’s a difficult mission but fusion is an international endeavour.

Fusion is incredibly hard. Mr Staples opened his talk by asking the question, why do we do it? Global energy demand is rising and he explained that the International Energy Agency (IEA) have said that it will rise by 75% over the next 30 years. There's a global need for energy security and decarbonization and a massive technological challenge to deliver both of these. Fusion could play a crucial role.

Five key benefits of fusion

In a list of benefits, Mr Staples began by pointing to the abundant resource potential of fusion. He explained that one of its key ingredients is deuterium which is found in seawater, and tritium which can be bred within a facility. This means that there is a fuel cycle built in. Secondly, it's carbon free and provides baseload firm power, so it can counter the intermittency of renewables. It’s incredibly energy dense, has much shorter live waste, and far fewer waste issues than then fission. There is also less radioactive waste byproducts. Some of the components can become radioactive in the process, but as a policy and technical challenge, the waste issue is far less than it is in fission.

What’s happening in the UK?

During his talk, Mr Staples noted that “the UK has a fantastic record in fusion and one that we should be proud of”. He said that we’ve been working on fusion research and development here since the middle of the 20th century and have an “exceptionally strong” institutional setup. 

He noted that the UK recently hosted a Japanese delegation who were struck by the strength of UK fusion institutions such as the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, the biggest fusion organisation in the world; the UK Energy Authority and the Joint European Tourist Facility. He said that we also have a growing private sector with impressive emerging companies like Tokamak Energy and First Light Fusion coming out of the UK. 

Exploring some of the UK’s policy around fusion, My Staples pointed to an updated fusion strategy published in the Autumn, with two key objectives. The first one is to build a world leading fusion industry that would support different technologies, be capable of exports and capable of establishing world leading companies in the UK. The second, (a key anchor in the strategy) is developing a prototype fusion power plant to deliver energy, and prove commercially viable. Ultimately, this is about demonstrating commercial viability and getting to a world where we have a proper private sector in fusion. He was confident that from a UK perspective, there are scientific gains and economic opportunities to be made, if we play things right. 

To dig into elements of the strategy, he asked the audience to first look at ‘Step.’ He explained that this is the spherical tokamak for energy production which is the prototype future fusion plant project. He explained that 240 million pounds had already been committed, and a site at West Burton has been acquired which is at the location of an old coal plant. “It makes a great story”, he said, observing that they have taken an area that has a long energy history but is fading, and now has an opportunity to revive as a public private collaboration using fusion.

Mr Staples also pointed to ‘Fusion Futures’ which is a new project that has 650 million pounds committed to it. He said that his team are spending this on facilities, skills and R&D, with the aim of growing the sector overall. The plan includes 200 million pounds for a new facility focused on tritium breeding. Being one of the key scientific engineering challenges, he said that this will be a major focus. 

Regulation and Planning

During a trip to Washington for several fusion conferences, he said that regulation came up as a key enabler for the growth required in the sector. He said that “modestly, the UK is ahead of the game. We passed legislation in the autumn which is important because it established that fusion will be regulated differently from fission, reflecting its different risk profiles”. 

Instead of going through the Office of Nuclear Regulation, he explained that fusion projects will go through the Environment Agency and the Health and Safety Commission and Health and Safety Executive. Mr Staples believes that that is significant with positive feedback from industry. The next phase he explained, in terms of policy framework, will be to consult on a national policy statement. Like other key infrastructure sectors, this will ensure fusion is given consideration and priority within the planning system, he said.

International collaboration

“Fusion is an international endeavour, this is a big mission”. Mr Staples said that there are two aspects of this that are significant. The first is deepening a bilateral relationship. He explained that we have already entered into a strategic partnership with the US and there are many areas where we can work very closely with the US including skills, facilities and R&D. He also noted that the UK has entered into a relationship with Canada and are in close touch with Germany, Japan and Korea too. 

The second aspect, is multilateral relationships, which will be a priority over the next few years. He explained that we are working through the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) as the industry grows to ensure that the multilateral level approach is enabling rather than hindering growth. 

To conclude, Mr Staples said, “the UK has quite a precious thing here in this potentially transformative technology of enormous economic value. We have great strengths and in many ways, a strategic advantage over other countries. It's very important that we maintain and hold on to that and grow it. It's about taking us forward into the next stage and growing fusion into a proper industry as the technology develops.”