
The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has joined forces with Italian energy major Eni SpA to conduct research and development activities in the field of fusion energy.
The pair aim to kick off the collaboration with the construction of the world’s largest and most advanced tritium fuel cycle facility, a vital fuel for future fusion power stations. The “UKAEA-Eni H3AT (pronounced heat) Tritium Loop Facility”, to rise at Culham Campus, will be completed in 2028, the pair said in a media release. The facility will pave the way for the industry and academia to study how to process, store, and recycle tritium.
Tritium recovery and reuse will be essential for future fusion power plants, enhancing efficiency in fuel supply and generation, the joint statement said. Fusion energy, which replicates the Sun’s power by fusing hydrogen isotopes to produce helium, releases significant emissions-free energy through a safe and clean process. It has the potential to significantly improve energy security and support decarbonization efforts, the statement said.
This collaboration merges UKAEA’s fusion research expertise with Eni’s industrial plant engineering and operational skills.
“We believe that fusion energy can contribute to a net zero future, including going beyond the decarbonization of electricity”, Professor Ian Chapman, CEO of UKAEA, said. “The H3AT demonstration plant will set a new benchmark as the largest and most advanced tritium fuel cycle facility in the world, paving the way for innovative offerings in fusion fuel and demonstrating the UK’s leadership in this crucial area of research and development”.
“Fusion energy is meant to revolutionize the global energy transition path, accelerating the decarbonization of our economic and industrial systems, helping to spread access to energy, and reducing energy dependency ties within a more equitable transition framework”, Claudio Descalzi, Eni CEO, said. “Eni is strongly committed to various areas of research and development of this complex technology, in which it has always firmly believed. Today with our UK partners we are laying the foundations for further progress towards the goal of fusion which – if we consider its enormous scope of technological innovation – is increasingly concrete and not so far off in time. To continue this virtuous development, international system-level technological partnerships like this one are indispensable”.
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