Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production

Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) is a spherical tokamak concept proposed by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and funded by UK government.[1][2] The project aims to produce net electricity from fusion on a timescale of 2040.

In September 2019 the United Kingdom announced a planned £200-million (US$248-million) investment to produce a design for a fusion facility named the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP). The funding covers the initial five year concept design phase, while the total capital costs are estimated to a few billion dollars. Once the concept design phase is complete, a second detailed engineering design phase will precede construction of the device, envisaged for 2032. STEP should be operational by the early 2040s.

Plans

The planned UK facility would be based on a ‘tokamak’ design that uses magnetic fields to confine a plasma of heavy isotopes of hydrogen, tritium and deuterium, which fuse under extreme heat and pressure. STEP would be a spherical tokamak that holds the plasma in a cored-apple shape. UKAEA’s MAST Upgrade spherical tokamak device, due to start operation in late 2020, will heavily inform the STEP design. With a total diameter of only around 10 m, STEP will be relatively small in comparison to ITER, the most advanced tokamak fusion reactor to date. This greatly reduces the cost, but also puts higher stress on the applied materials and will not allow for tritium breeding inside the device.[3]

See also

References
  1. uk-wants-to-build-worlds-first-fusion-power-plant-20-years-from-now 2019
  2. Gibney, Elizabeth (2019-10-11). "UK hatches plan to build world's first fusion power plant". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-019-03039-9. PMID 33037417.
  3. Daniel Clerry (2020-12-02). "U.K. seeks site for world's first fusion power station". science magazine. doi:10.1126/science.abf9768.
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