Jacobs among recipients of fusion funding

The contracts – feasibility studies from £50,000 up to £200,000 from a £3.1m pot of funding – are supported by the UKAEA’s Fusion Industry Programme and awarded through the government’s Small Business Research Initiative.

The projects will target specific challenges linked to the commercialisation of fusion energy, from novel fusion materials and manufacturing techniques through to innovative heating and cooling systems.

For their part, Jacobs will use their funding to create a liquid lithium testing facility at its Technology & Innovation Centre at Birchwood Park, Warrington.

The hydrogen isotope tritium is an essential fuel for fusion that can be produced during the fusion reaction through contact with lithium. There are, however, knowledge gaps surrounding the behaviour of lithium and the by-products of reactions used to produce it.

Areas for research at Jacobs’ new facility include examining the effect of oxygen, nitrogen and other impurities in lithium and the properties of lithium under fusion conditions; the development of instrumentation to measure lithium properties and other elements during the fuel breeding process; and the integration of multiple fuel cycle components.