STOCKHOLM, May 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), the UK’s national fusion energy laboratory, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Novatron Fusion Group, a Swedish company that aims to revolutionise the field of fusion energy production and fast-track the transition to commercial fusion power.
The world’s energy demand is growing rapidly, and we need to meet it without reliance on fossil fuels. Fusion power potentially offers a flexible, large-scale, dispatchable source of clean, safe, and virtually limitless energy.
Estimates suggest more than 15 billion tons of CO2 emissions could be saved annually if all coal-fired power plants in the world were replaced with fusion power plants. Looking further to the future, fusion energy could become pervasive and cheap allowing entirely new industries to emerge.
Today’s fusion power announcement made public at the London Residence of the Swedish Ambassador to the UK, between the UKAEA and Swedish company Novatron Fusion Group builds on the UK and Sweden’s recently signed Strategic Partnership, expanding cooperation on science and innovation, energy, trade and security and defence.
Under the Strategic Partnership – signed by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in October 2023 – both nations committed to ‘exploring opportunities for collaboration on fusion energy’ after acknowledging the emerging technology’s ‘importance for long-term sustainable energy supply”.
Ambassador of Sweden to the UK, H.E. Mr Stefan Gullgren said: “I am delighted that the Strategic Partnership signed by Sweden and the United Kingdom last year has inspired Novatron Fusion Group and UKAEA to establish a partnership on fusion collaboration. Sweden and the United Kingdom have a long history of investing in cutting-edge research leading to technological advancements. This partnership between two key actors in fusion technology represents yet another building block in our flourishing bilateral cooperation on science and innovation.”
Novatron Fusion Group is developing an innovative machine solution (currently the only mirror machine-concept in Europe) for stable magnetic plasma confinement at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.
The new partnership will include site visits, staff exchanges including technology demonstrations alongside broader sharing on knowledge and some IP. Further investigations will be performed in parallel regarding collaboration on the next generation of machines. More specific focus areas include the design of fusion machines: particularly for heating of plasma, along with Diagnostics and Remote handling systems.
Novatron Fusion Group CEO, Peter Roos, said the MoU marked a significant step forward for Europe’s fusion energy ambitions. “We’re pleased to be strengthening our presence in the UK which is making a serious commitment to fusion energy. International cooperation is essential to ensure a concerted push, not only with technology development, but for swift implement of funding and regulatory changes to pave the way for the fusion energy industry. With support from investors, governments, academia and industry, commerciality is now within reaching distance.”
For more information, please contact:
Novatron Fusion Group AB
Linda Nyberg, CCO, +46 76-006 19 15 or linda.nyberg@novatronfusion.com
About Novatron Fusion Group
Novatron Fusion Group AB is a Swedish company headquartered in Stockholm. We are developing the NOVATRON concept – an innovative reactor solution for stable magnetic plasma confinement. The company’s approach aims to simplify the quest to deliver fusion energy to increase reliability and reduce the current capital and operational cost profiles of its fusion reactors, relative to alternative solutions. Partnerships include KTH Royal Institute of Technology (www.kth.se) and EIT InnoEnergy (www.innoenergy.com).
About UK Atomic Energy Authority
United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) is the UK’s national organisation responsible for the research and delivery of sustainable fusion energy. It is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
Fusion energy has great potential to deliver safe, sustainable, low carbon energy for generations to come. It is based on the same processes that power the Sun and stars, and would form part of the world’s future energy mix. Achieving this is a major technical challenge that involves working at the forefront of science, engineering, and technology.
UKAEA’s fusion machines include MAST-Upgrade (Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak) and the JET (Joint European Torus) research facility. JET’s operations were funded by the UK Government from 2021 until 31st December 2023. UKAEA is delivering the transition of JET from plasma operations to repurposing and decommissioning. The insights gained from this process will contribute to the advancement of sustainable future fusion powerplants.
UKAEA is implementing the UK’s £650 million Fusion Futures Programme, the UK’s alternative programme to associating to Euratom R&T, to support the UK Fusion Strategy. The Programme entails establishing new facilities at UKAEA’s Culham Campus in Oxfordshire to facilitate the advancement of new technologies and expand fusion fuel cycle capabilities. The Programme aims to foster world-leading innovation while also stimulating general industry capacity through international collaboration and the development of future fusion powerplants. Additionally, a fusion skills package will be introduced focusing on nurturing expertise across a spectrum of disciplines and levels. In 2021, UKAEA opened its Fusion Technology Facility near Rotherham in South Yorkshire, to develop and test materials and components for future fusion powerplants.
UKAEA also undertakes cutting edge work with academia, other research organisations and the industrial supply chain in a wide spectrum of areas, including robotics and materials.
More information: https://www.gov.uk/ukaea. Social Media: @UKAEAofficial
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