Oxford’s First Light Fusion agrees to build new fusion facility
Oxford-based First Light Fusion has signed an agreement with the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to design and construct a new facility at Oxfordshire’s Culham Campus.
The new facility will be used to house First Light’s Machine 4, which will be used to develop technology required for inertial confinement fusion energy powerplants.
The agreement comes after the National Ignition Facility in California’s recent breakthrough, when it managed to produce net energy gain for the first time from a fusion experiment.
First Light is pursuing a similar approach to the NIF, using the same physics but combining it with First Light’s unique approach, which involved firing a projectile at a fuel pellet, which has been validated by UKAEA.
Ramboll, a firm which specialises in designing technical buildings, has been appointed along with Scott Brownrigg to design and build the facility, with construction expected to start in 2024. It would then become active in 2027.
Read more – Reading firm reveals role in nuclear fusion breakthrough
Professor Sir Ian Chapman, CEO of UKAEA, said: “We are delighted that this First Light Fusion demonstration facility will be at Culham. We have enjoyed a long relationship with First Light Fusion as it has progressed its unique projectile fusion method, and worked with them to validate their maiden fusion result in 2022.”
Dr Nick Hawker, Co-founder and CEO of First Light Fusion, said: “We welcome the continued support of the UKAEA and look forward to working with them to rapidly advance the construction of this facility and our gain machine.
“With this agreement in place, and contracts signed with designers and architects, we can accelerate our development timeframe. The recent gain result from the National Ignition Facility in California proved what we always knew – that inertial confinement fusion works and offers the potential for a faster route to commercial fusion.
“It also had considerable positive repercussions for us at First Light. Our approach leverages the same physics now proven by NIF but combines it with a unique approach that gets to a competitive cost point in a truly scalable manner.
“We’ve already proven fusion. Gain is our next milestone. We are very confident Machine 4 will allow us to achieve this, while we continue to develop plans for a pilot commercial fusion powerplant.”
Read more - Fusion energy power plant demo given green light at Culham
