Tokamak Energy, Ltd.
TypePrivate
IndustryFusion Power
Founded2009 (2009)
HeadquartersOxford, United Kingdom
Key people
Number of employees
250
SubsidiariesTokamak Energy Inc.
Websitewww.tokamakenergy.co.uk

Tokamak Energy is a fusion power company based near Oxford in the United Kingdom,[1] established in 2009.[2] The company is pursuing the global deployment of commercial fusion energy in the 2030s through the combined development of spherical tokamaks with high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets. It is also developing HTS magnet technology for other applications.

History

Tokamak Energy is a spin-off from the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy based in Oxfordshire.[3] As of 2022, the company had raised $250m, comprising $50m from the UK and US governments and $200m from private investors, including L&G Capital, Dr. Hans-Peter Wild, and David Harding, CEO of Winton Capital.[2]

One of the company's first devices was the copper magnet-based ST-25; in 2015 this was upgraded with rare earth–barium–copper oxide (REBCO) high temperature superconductors (HTS) to the ST-25HTS.[4]

The company's most recently developed and currently operating device is the ST40 high-field compact spherical tokamak, which reached a plasma temperature of 15 million degrees Celsius in 2018 [5][6][7] and then in March 2022 achieved a landmark plasma ion temperature in excess of 100 million degrees Celsius,[8] considered the threshold for commercial fusion. A peer-reviewed scientific paper on the achievement has been published by the Institute of Physics.[9]

Tokamak Energy is a leader in HTS magnet development. In 2020 the company announced it had achieved a world-record 24 Tesla field at 20K with its patented technology. In 2023, it announced it had built a world-first set of new generation HTS magnets to be assembled and tested in fusion power plant-relevant scenarios in its new Demo4 in-house facility.[10] It is also developing HTS technology for applications outside of fusion energy.

In October 2022, the UKAEA and Tokamak Energy announced a five-year framework agreement to collaborate on developing spherical tokamaks for power generation. The collaboration focuses on areas including materials development and testing, power generation, fuel cycle, diagnostics and remote handling,[11] in the UKAEA's towards its STEP machine.

In May 2023, United States Department of Energy granted the company's US subsidiary, Tokamak Energy Inc., additional funding [12] through its Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program, which partners selected companies with U.S. national laboratories, universities and other institutions to advance designs and R&D for fusion power plants, representing a major step in the U.S.'s commitment to a pilot-scale demonstration of fusion within a decade.

On 27 July 2023 Tokamak Energy announced a partnership with Sumitomo Corporation for the development, implementation and scaling-up of commercial fusion energy in Japan and worldwide.[13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Energy, Tokamak. "Contact » Tokamak Energy". Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  2. 1 2 "Tokamak Energy on track to be the first private company to achieve 100 million degree plasma temperature, paving the way to commercial fusion energy". www.itnewsonline.com. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  3. ↑ "ST40 achieves 15-million-degree target - World Nuclear News". world-nuclear-news.org. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  4. ↑ Windridge, Melanie (2020), "Tokamak Energy", Commercialising Fusion Energy, IOP Publishing, doi:10.1088/978-0-7503-2719-0ch5, ISBN 978-0-7503-2719-0, S2CID 241527511, retrieved 13 December 2021
  5. ↑ "Tokamak Energy hits 15 million degree fusion milestone". The Engineer. 6 June 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  6. ↑ "Fusion power is attracting private-sector interest". The Economist. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  7. ↑ Gryaznevich, M.; Nicolai, A.; Chuyanov, V.; Team, Tokamak Energy Ltd. (2021). "St40 Progress Towards Optimized Neutron Production". Problems of Atomic Science and Technology, Ser. Thermonuclear Fusion. 44 (2): 107–110. doi:10.21517/0202-3822-2021-44-2-107-110. ISSN 0202-3822. S2CID 238914316.
  8. ↑ "Tokamak Energy achieves crucial plasma temperature". World Nuclear News. 10 March 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  9. ↑ McNamara, S.A.M.; Asunta, O.; Bland, J.; Buxton, P.F.; Colgan, C.; Dnestrovskii, A.; Gemmell, M.; Gryaznevich, M.; Hoffman, D.; Janky, F.; Lister, J.B.; Lowe, H.F.; Mirfayzi, R.S.; Naylor, G.; Nemytov, V. (17 March 2023). "Achievement of ion temperatures in excess of 100 million degrees Kelvin in the compact high-field spherical tokamak ST40". Nuclear Fusion. 63 (5): 054002. doi:10.1088/1741-4326/acbec8. ISSN 0029-5515.
  10. ↑ "The Engineer - World-first magnets set for fusion power plant testing". The Engineer. 2 September 2023. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  11. ↑ International, Power Engineering (10 October 2022). "Tokamak Energy and UKAEA team up to drive fusion innovation". Power Engineering International. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  12. ↑ "DOE Announces $46 Million for Commercial Fusion Energy Development". Energy.gov. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  13. ↑ "British-Japanese partnership for fusion development". World Nuclear News. 27 July 2023.


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