TAE Technologies, the world’s largest private fusion energy company, has recently entered a landmark partnership with Japan’s National Institute for Fusion Science [NIFS].
The partnership enables both organisations to test the effects of hydrogen-boron [p-B11] fusion reactions in the NIFS Large Helical Device [LHD]. The results of this research have the potential to unlock a new milestone in TAE’s mission to develop commercial fusion power with p-B11, the cleanest and most affordable fuel for fusion cycles.
Fusion, the process of combining elements to release large amounts of energy, is a carbon-free, baseload energy solution to address both climate change and the growing global energy demand.
Most fusion efforts around the world currently are focused on combining hydrogen isotopes deuterium-tritium [D-T] to use as fuel. Many of the tokamak machines commonly used in fusion concepts are limited to D-T fuel.
In contrast, TAE’s compact linear design uses an advanced beam-driven field-reversed configuration [FRC] that can accommodate all available fusion fuel cycles, including D-T and deuterium-helium-3 [D-He-3], a benefit that uniquely enables the company to license its technology on the way to its ultimate goal of connecting the first p-B11 fusion power plant to the grid by the end of the decade.
TAE is developing commercial fusion power plants using p-B11 on the basis that it is the most economical and environmentally friendly fuel cycle for fusion. P-B11 eliminates the need for breeding tritium, thus offering cleaner, safer operations while maximising the durability and lifetime of the fusion plant. The boron in p-B11 is ubiquitous in nature, found in vast deposits within the earth’s crust and sea water, and is used in detergents and other industrial commodities. The partnership between NIFS and TAE represents the first public-private fusion research using this advanced fuel.
NIFS is an inter-university research institute located in Toki, Japan, and works with preeminent organisations both in Japan and across the globe. TAE’s scientists will collaborate with a team run by Professor Zensho Yoshida, the NIFS director general.
The three-year joint research project, which began in September 2021, calls for the technical teams to install sensors inside the NIFS stellarator to detect benign helium nuclei, also known as alpha particles, which are produced by p-B11 fusion reactions to monitor the internal effects of the fuel on the containment walls in order to produce the best plasma confinement and strongest, most resilient machinery for fusion power plants.
TAE Technologies CEO, Michl Binderbauer, commented: “Our partnership with NIFS is a significant opportunity to offer proof of concept for TAE’s preferred fuel cycle and accelerate the commercialisation of p-B11 fusion, which represents the cleanest, most elegant and abundant energy source on earth.
“We expect this research to yield new insights that will help us further optimise our fusion platform for global adoption and long-term sustainability.”
Toshiki Tajima, chief science officer at TAE, added: “The collaborative relations between the US and Japan started with vigour when president Carter and prime minister Fukuda signed a treaty on US-Japan fusion collaboration in 1978. In particular, scientists from NIFS such as Professor Momota visited the US to explore aneutronic fusion research in 1980s.
“I believe our experimental collaboration with NIFS will quickly culminate in the world’s first pB11 aneutronic fusion demonstration. This joint effort shows that the union of two complementary parties can yield an outcome greater than the sum of its parts – similar to the transformative properties of fusion energy itself.”
Professor Masaki Osakabe, executive director of the NIFS Large Helical Device Project, said: “The development and commercialisation of grid-scale fusion energy is a priority in the face of climate change. We are excited to provide this opportunity to research the effects of advanced fuels for fusion with a leader in p-B11, and we look forward to sharing the results.”
In April 2021, TAE announced that it would make $280 million of additional funding available, based on achieving a fusion technology milestone that gives the company a high degree of confidence that its unique compact configuration can scale to cost-competitive utility-scale fusion power.
In September, this was followed up by the launching of TAE’s Power Management division, which is currently commercialising the proprietary energy storage technology that has been deployed in the company’s fusion platform since 2017 for first-of-its-kind advances. These strides forward have come in the residential and commercial energy storage industries; electric vehicle performance, range, and charging; and in overall improvements to grid infrastructure to create a connected clean energy ecosystem.
This article originates from a TAE Technologies Press Release, which can be found here.
Photo by NASA on Unsplash
