British scaleup Tokamak Energy has secured $125 million to harness nuclear fusion – the same clean, virtually unlimited energy source that powers the sun and stars.
Tokamak emerged from the UK Atomic Energy Agency in 2009. As the name suggests, the company is building a tokamak reactor, the most common type of fusion design, first developed in the 1960s. Tokamaks use giant magnets to keep the plasma in a loop while an electric current flows through it.
The funding brings the company's total proceeds to $335mnconsisting of $275 million from private investors and $60 million from the UK and US governments. This makes it Europe's best-financed private fusion energy company.
Tokamak Energy said the fresh capital will help strengthen its commercialization plans. The company aims to have its first fusion power plant operational sometime in the 2030s.
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However, the funds will also go towards expanding Tokamak's side business, TE Magnetics. The subsidiary is developing rare earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) band superconducting magnets, allowing stronger magnetic fields to confine the plasma. Superconducting magnets are in demand not only in the fusion industry, but also in science, mobility and renewable energies.
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“Our mission is to make fusion energy a reality, and we believe we can only achieve this through strong, global partnerships,” said Warrick Matthews, CEO of Tokamak Energy, adding that the increase is a “critical” and “exciting” timing for the merger development.
To meet its ambitious schedule, Tokamak is moving quickly develops, tests and validates its approach using its pilot reactor – the ST40 – at its headquarters in Oxford.
The ST40 is a spherical tokamak that is more compact than traditional donut reactors such as the ITER fusion plant under construction in France. According to the company, this shape allows for better confinement of the super-hot plasma where fusion occurs, making the reactor smaller, cheaper and easier to build.
In 2022, the ST40 became the first private fusion reactor to reach the 100 million mark °C – six times hotter than the core of our nearest star. This is generally considered to be the temperature threshold at which fusion reactions can become self-sustaining.
Despite enormous advances, fusion energy has always seemed like a technology that is “still 20 years away.” But the tides could be changing. According to a survey at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) forum in London earlier this year, 65% of insiders think so Fusion will produce electricity for the network at a reasonable cost by 2035 and 90% by 2040.
Once it is operational, Tokamak aims for each of its reactors to produce around 500 MW of clean electricity – enough to power around 85,000 homes.
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