‘Some nuclear fusion companies are selling flying carpets’

At the end of 2021, the world’s largest nuclear fusion reactor generated a record amount of energy. In five seconds, the European fusion experiment Joint European Torus (JET) produced 59 megajoules of heat energy, comparable to the electricity consumption of a two-person household in two days. It was a milestone of EUROfusion, the European research program into nuclear fusion for energy generation.

EUROfusion was founded in 2014 to bring together European nuclear fusion research. The goal: to produce electricity with nuclear fusion, the energy source of the sun. Fusion reactors can be sustainable and stable energy sources that are also safer than current nuclear fission reactors. Although experiments such as JET have shown that controlled fusion is possible, they have never been able to generate more energy than was needed to start the reaction. This should be possible with ITER, an even larger experimental nuclear fusion reactor currently being built in the south of France, in which EUROfusion is also involved.

Although ITER is not yet running, JET will close at the end of this year after forty years of loyal service. At the same time, Tony Donné will step down as program manager of EUROfusion, a position he has held since its founding. “That timing is purely coincidental.” In conversation at the Differ energy institute in Eindhoven, Donné and his successor Ambrogio Fasoli look back and forward.

Nuclear fusion as an energy source is often said to be forty years away and always will be. Will a fusion power plant always remain a dream of the future?

Donné: “My opinion is that we can achieve fusion as an energy source if we approach it like the Manhattan Project [waarbinnen de VS tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog de atoombom ontwikkelden]. With a central team, sufficient budget and set up in the right way. I was in China last week and something similar is happening there. They are building an experimental fusion reactor similar to ITER, only slightly smaller. I am convinced that it will work in four or five years. We can do that in Europe too. We are still a pioneer.”

Fasoli: “At the moment it is not a question of whether it is possible, but when. If all European partners join forces, including the industry, it can be done in twenty years.”

outgoing program managerTony Donne Developing and testing better materials will take at least another ten to fifteen years

What are the biggest challenges to building a fusion power plant?

Donné: “We do not yet have materials for the reactor walls that are resistant to the radiation released during fusion reactions. The current materials therefore crumble and therefore often have to be replaced. Developing and testing better materials will take at least another ten to fifteen years. We also need to grow tritium. Tritium is part of the fusion fuel. Because tritium decays quickly, it is hardly present in nature. There are several techniques for growing it that work in the lab, but we still need to develop this into a method that works on a large scale.”

Fasoli: “Another challenge is bringing together all the parts that we now mainly understand individually. I compare it to a decathlon. The best decathlete cannot also be the best long jumper, high jumper, sprinter, and so on. This also applies to designing a fusion reactor. You have to optimize the entire design. That is a major challenge, because fusion reactors are complex devices.”

Why is European cooperation important for this?

Donné: “Until 2014, each country had total autonomy within European nuclear fusion research. As a result, research was very fragmented and everyone did what produced the most prestigious scientific publications. That led to duplications and important research that wasn’t done because it wasn’t that sexy. That is why it was decided to establish EUROfusion, with a common roadmap.”

Fasoli: “An example is the research into disturbances in the hot fuel plasma that can cause us to lose control and the plasma to damage the walls. We must prevent or tame those disruptions. But no one wanted to investigate that. Thanks to EUROfusion, there is now a team with the right knowledge and access to the right facilities to investigate this, so we know more and more about it. In addition, EUROfusion is involved in training the next generation of researchers and technicians.”

incoming program managerAmbrogio Fasoli With the great promises and high wages, they attract some of the young fusion researchers away from us

In recent years, there have been companies that claim to have a working fusion reactor in five or ten years.

Fasoli: “They are now creating additional interest in fusion research. Fine. But it does worry me that they are making big promises. If it turns out in a few years that they cannot achieve this, then that will not be good for the image of nuclear fusion. Furthermore, they compete with us for personnel. With the great promises and high wages, they attract some of the young fusion researchers away from us.”

Donné: “I think some companies sell flying carpets. They know they can’t build a working fusion reactor in five or ten years. They only make those promises for their investors.”

What are EUROfusion’s goals for the coming years?

Fasoli: “ITER is priority number one. At the same time, we are working towards DEMO – the first European fusion reactor that will supply electricity to the grid. We are preparing the design and location. We have already learned lessons from ITER, where mistakes were made in the production of the parts. We have learned from this that we must involve the industry in the plans and designs.”

Donné: “In addition, I think that the biggest challenge Ambrogio faces is to convince politicians that we should focus on nuclear fusion research.”

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