Utility Week

Utility of the Future: climate change 14 | 20TH - 26TH SEPTEMBER 2019 | UTILITY WEEK Nuclear fusion continued from p12 rather than later, and if fusion is still dec- ades away it will be unable to play the role many had hoped for. The question, then, is does fusion need more funding to push it through. Walters says it does, although he freely concedes: "I would say that, wouldn't I." In truth, "like any big scientific or engi- neering programme, to an extent the speed would be dependent on the amount of investment". As an example of what can be accomplished with cash if you set your mind to it, he cites the rapid development of aeroplane technology during the Second World War. When it comes to climate change, fusion is not the silver bullet some had hoped. Walters says climate change is "a really serious issue that we've got to address in the medium term, and in some cases in the shorter term. "Fusion is beginning to attract investors who see it as a long-term investment, but it is long term, it'll be a couple of decades at least before we get any sort of power to the grid." Fusion has huge potential, and Walters says that "with the green credentials and an abundance of the potential fuels, it ticks an awful lot of environmental boxes". While nuclear fission – deployed in all commercial nuclear reactions built so far – is proven, it is Tokamak nuclear fusion reactors A tokamak reactor uses a powerful magnetic field to confine a hot plasma in the shape of a torus. It is one of several types of magnetic confinement device that have been developed to produce a controlled fusion reaction but is the leading candidate for a practical fusion reactor. Tokamaks were initially dreamt up in the 1950s by Soviet scientists. The first working tokamak was the T-1, which demonstrated that a stable plasma equilibrium requires magnetic field lines that wind around the torus in a helix. The T-1 began operation in 1958 and was widely adopted worldwide. No-one has yet been able to resolve the fundamen- tal problem that the device consumes more energy than it generates. A€er an initial agreement between Russia and US in 1985, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) effort emerged and remains the primary international effort to develop practical fusion power. The Utility of the Future Utility Week is running a year-long campaign to tackle the difficult question of the future of the sector. The campaign pillars include: August/September: Climate change October: Regulation November/December: Business models and workforce January/February: Customers March/April: Technology Check utilityweek.co.uk for more campaign content. also controversial in terms of its environmen- tal footprint. While it would be wrong to say that there's no radioactive waste, the volumes produced by fusion reactors are "consider- ably smaller, and the half-lives of the mate- rials are considerably shorter". Instead of actinides like plutonium, uranium, or nep- tunium, which can have half-lives ranging from hundreds to thousands of years. For fusion, the waste concern is tritiated materials, because "tritium's very mobile, and will enter into the matrix of materials", and neutron activation where the materials become radioactive. Radioactive materials such as fusion reactors are only expected to be at dangerous levels for 50 years, and a†er 500 years will be as radioactive as coal ash. Brexit and beyond International co-operation plays a huge role in public fusion research. Culham currently has 350 overseas researchers stationed there. "You've only got to look at the names on the doors as you walk around this building, and that's brilliant," says Walters. JET is a testament to the willingness to pool resources and knowledge, now and in the future. The programme recently received funding from the EU for a further two years, to the tune of at least €100 million . Walters says this is endemic of "the level of interaction" and, he believes, the agree- ment for the extension of JET is the only cur- rent agreement between the UK and the EU that will be unaffected "whatever form of Brexit or no Brexit", regardless of "the deal, no deal, good deal, bad deal". Former prime minister Theresa May assured the centre that continued co-oper- ation a†er the UK's withdrawal from the EU was in the interest of both parties, and her successor, Boris Johnson, has already made a visit to CCFE in his short tenure, where he reiterated the government's support for the research. Walters is unwilling to say whether ITER's road map could be improved upon, because "history is littered with people over-promising". However, he does say: "To a degree, it depends on how much effort you put in. If human kind took the challenge a little bit like the Apollo programme, then you could fast track things, but in the normal state of affairs, it's going to be several decades yet." He says that in 1959 the US struggled to get a rocket off the ground, but ten years later they had a man on the moon, which was the result of having brainpower and support coming together towards a single goal. He says "the brains are not just here, but around the world, and if we all work together, and I know it sounds a bit utopian, but we could make a difference". When fusion does become a reality, Wal- ters is keen that we "don't repeat what the West did with oil". He stresses the need to avoid over-reliance on one fuel source, because it leaves us open to exacerbated suf- fering from political and economic changes. "We've got to do a sort of hindsight study as a human race and think to ourselves we've got to be cleverer next time. It needs everybody to think together. "ITER has demonstrated that we can actually all work together… it can be done if everyone puts their mind to it, if the prize is big enough, and it's shared." Toroidal magnetic field coils Inner poloidal field coils Outer poloidal field coils Toroidal magnetic field Twisted magnetic field "With its green credentials and an abundance of potential fuels, fusion ticks an awful lot of environmental boxes."

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