A nuclear start-up attempting to crack the “holy grail” of nuclear fusion is planning a new $570m [£500m] pilot plant which will also make crucial fuel.
Oxford-based First Light Fusion is examining sites across Britain for a facility that will use fusion to produce both electricity and tritium, an isotope of hydrogen needed to fuel fusion reactions.
A facility would be used to supply First Light’s commercial fusion reactor, which is still under development.
Tritium is extremely scarce and currently costs around $30,000 a gram, with much of the world’s stock already earmarked for other reactors.
First Light Fusion says producing it on site would help commercialise fusion technology, which has been in development for decades.
Nick Hawker, First Light Fusion’s co-founder and chief executive, said: “One of the major engineering challenges of fusion is being able to produce enough tritium yourself.
“With our design approach, that’s quite an easy thing to do. So with this pilot plant design we will maximise that strength.
“It will be designed to over-produce tritium. That will unblock the scalability of the technology, allowing us to scale out many more power plants much more quickly.
“So this pilot plant will provide the fuel for the first generation, the first fleet of our proper commercial plants.”
First Light hopes to get the 60-megawatt pilot plant up and running in the early to mid-2030s. Mr Hawker does not anticipate it will need to sell equity in First Light to fund the plant.
The company is among several worldwide trying to develop nuclear fusion power, which holds the promise of abundant clean energy by replicating the process that powers the sun.
