Tokamak Energy signs high temperature superconducting tape agreement

Furukawa Electric, Tokyo, Japan and Furukawa Electric Group company SuperPower Inc, New York, USA, are expected to deliver more than several hundred kilometres of tape to the Oxford-based company for the next phase of construction.

In a statement, Chris Kelsall, CEO Tokamak Energy, said: “Building our next advanced protype, ST80-HTS, is a key milestone in our mission to deliver commercial fusion as a clean, sustainable, low cost and globally available energy source. Securing partnerships with leading global suppliers such as Furukawa Electric Group strengthens our capability to address the twin challenges of climate change and energy security.”

The Supply of HTS tape developed and supplied by Furukawa Electric Group marks a key stage in the path to Tokamak Energy’s fusion pilot plant, which will demonstrate its generating capability in the early 2030s by producing up to 200MW of net electrical power.

HTS magnets enable the low cost, commercial operation and global deployment of spherical tokamak devices as they are essential for confining the fuel, which reaches temperatures above 100 million degrees Celsius. HTS tapes are multi-layered conductors made of strong and conductive metals with an internal coating of REBCO (rare earth barium copper oxide) superconducting material. The tapes are typically 12mm wide and less than 0.1 mm thick, containing REBCO deposited as a thin coating.