West in nuclear fusion race with China, says UK atomic energy body

{"text":[[{"start":7.92,"text":"The west is in a race with China to develop nuclear fusion energy, according to the chief executive of the UK’s state fusion programme, who added that commercialising the nascent technology would arguably be “one of the most important geopolitical events ever”."}],[{"start":23.54,"text":"Professor Dennis Whyte, who became chief executive of the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) in September, said the UK has world-leading fusion programmes but that China was also rapidly developing both technology and supply chains."}],[{"start":37.96,"text":"“There is an emerging race which has occurred, and at this point it looks to be essentially the race is between China and the west, or western-aligned nations,” he told the FT in an interview."}],[{"start":49.08,"text":"“It is actually a pretty good race, I would say, based on what we’ve seen. China has an impressive set of capabilities that they have built up in a surprisingly short period of time.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":59.32,"text":"Whyte led the nuclear science and engineering department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-founded the private nuclear fusion company Commonwealth Fusion Systems, which is backed by Bill Gates’s investment fund Breakthrough Energy Ventures."}],[{"start":73.48,"text":"The Canadian has taken on the UKAEA role at a key moment for the development of nuclear fusion, which involves fusing nuclei to convert mass into energy, enormous amounts of which are then unleashed and can be used to drive a turbine to produce electricity."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":89.04,"text":"The technology has been in development for decades but has struggled to get out of the laboratory stages due to the challenges — including energy demand — of creating and sustaining the required 100mn degrees Celsius temperatures and high pressures for fusion to take place."}],[{"start":104.16,"text":"It is now attracting record funding following breakthroughs that have raised hopes reactions can be sustained and fusion could be used to produce electricity at commercial scale within a decade or sooner. However, such optimism has been tempered by questions over whether progress and the price at which electricity could one day be produced are being overhyped."}],[{"start":124.68,"text":"Whyte said there was reason to be excited by, for example, the net energy gain milestone reached by the US’s National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 2022, when their fusion reaction produced more energy than had been sent directly to the nuclei being fused, as well as the development of superconducting magnets, which mean fusion reactors need less electricity to run."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":146.76,"text":"“The mere fact that we’re talking about trying to meet price points for fusion energy is itself a new revelation in our field,” he said, highlighting the huge prize at play at a time when nations around the world are grappling with rising energy demand and concerns over energy security."}],[{"start":163.36,"text":"When fusion becomes economically viable, “it’s hard not to argue that it’s one of the most important geopolitical events ever because it unlocks energy in a way which is just very different from other kinds of energy sources”, he said."}],[{"start":176.92,"text":"Fusion can release roughly 10mn times more energy per kilogramme of fuel compared with burning fossil fuels, according to the UKAEA."}],[{"start":185.08,"text":"The UKAEA said in August that scientists had made breakthroughs in the pressure they could achieve inside its Mast Upgrade fusion machine in Culham, Oxfordshire."}],[{"start":194.12,"text":"The organisation’s subsidiary UK Fusion Energy, meanwhile, is aiming to develop by 2040 a prototype fusion power plant on the site of a former coal-fired power plant in West Burton, Nottinghamshire."}],[{"start":206,"text":"UKAEA is also working on challenges beyond just creating the fusion reaction, Whyte said, pointing to separate programmes to develop robotics to help maintain fusion reactors, reducing downtime, and to reuse scarce tritium fuel."}],[{"start":219.68,"text":"Scientists are also using artificial intelligence to help solve the technology’s challenges, he said, such as parsing the billions of permutations of different types of alloys that can help materials survive conditions inside the reactor. “Being able to use these tools is revolutionary,” he added."}],[{"start":239.72,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1792044352_2116.mp3"}