Monday, 20 January 2025
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Future fusion power plants will rely on two hydrogen isotopes – deuterium and tritium – to produce energy. Deuterium can be readily extracted from seawater. Tritium, however, is scarce in supply, necessitating the development of methods to produce it sustainably.
To address this challenge, tritium must be produced (or ‘bred’) in a lithium-containing blanket that surrounds the fusion reaction. This ‘breeder blanket’ will perform several tasks: producing tritium; absorbing heat; and acting as a radiation shield. By ensuring a continuous supply of tritium for the fusion machine’s operations, the breeder blanket enables a self-sustaining fuel cycle.
The GBP200 million (USD244 million) LIBRTI (Lithium Breeding Tritium Innovation) programme – part of the broader Fusion Futures initiative – focuses on pioneering fusion fuel advancements and stimulating general industry capacity through international collaboration.
Over its four-year span, the programme aims to demonstrate controlled tritium breeding. As part of this effort, UKAEA intends to purchase a neutron source which will form the backbone of a first-of-a-kind testbed facility to be built at Culham Campus in Oxfordshire, England.
SHINE Technologies of Janesville, Wisconsin, USA, is to supply a 14 mega electron volt (MeV) deuterium-tritium fusion system to provide the LIBRTI neutron source in 2027.
“The neutron source selected shall provide neutrons of the same energy as those emitted from a fusion machine, enabling LIBRTI to experiment with a wide range of materials and engineering configurations to shape and advance the breeding models required for next step blanket designs,” said John Norton, LIBRTI Director at UKAEA.
SHINE Technologies CEO Greg Piefer added: “These fusion spectrum neutrons are essential to validate tritium breeding materials critical for scalable fusion energy systems. We’re excited to work with UKAEA to develop next-generation fusion solutions to help pave the way to clean, abundant energy.”
Experiments
UKAEA will also provide GBP9 million funding for 12 small-scale tritium breeding and digital simulation experiments. Each of the experimental and digital projects is expected to run to March 2026.
The 12 winning bids in the LIBRTI procurement call are as follows: Amentum Clean Energy Limited (Development of a Liquid Lithium Digital Twin); Astral Neutronics Ltd (Studying the adequacy of 6LiD as a solid breeder material); Bangor University – Nuclear Futures Institute (TRIMAX (Tritium reactor integrated analysis experiment, multiphysics code)); IDOM UK Limited (Correlation of scaled mock-ups to full-scale using multiphysics); Kyoto Fusioneering (TRI-PRISM (tritium permeation real-time in-line sensor for monitoring)); Lancaster University (TriBreed (using High Flux neutron source facility at the University of Birmingham)); University of Manchester (Breeder Agnostic Tritium Inventory Digital Twin System); US university (Develop openTBB (Tritium Breeding Blanket) – multiphysics transport simulation); Oxford Sigma (VICE (Quantification of uncertainties in tritium breeding in ceramics, manufacturing and testing)); Tokamak Energy (Experimental programme including lithium impurity control, diagnostics and irradiation testing); University of Birmingham (Develop a small solid lithium ceramic breeder with in-line tritium detection capability for calibrated neutron sources); and University of Edinburgh (Tritium breeding in FLiBe).
Organisations also included in these projects are Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, DigiLab, ENI, University of Bristol, University of Cambridge University of California Berkeley, University of Illinois Urbana and University of Oxford.
Outcomes are expected to include new tritium transport models, the development of novel breeder materials and diagnostics, and digital platforms for the testbed facility.
UKAEA said a comprehensive digital strategy for the programme has been developed. The resultant digital platform includes a Building Information Management System that will work in tandem with a multi-physics simulation model. This digital platform will enable the programme to replicate performance and ensure accurate modelling and optimisation for future designs of tritium breeder blanket systems.
“We aim to move from a science experiment to providing the supply chain with the confidence needed to support future fusion power plants,” said Amanda Quadling, Executive Director for Fusion Fundamental Research and Materials Science at UKAEA, and Senior Responsible Owner for LIBRTI. “The engineering scale experimental results combined with a robust digital platform offer powerful ways to design and substantiate future breeder systems for industrial use.”
UKAEA – an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero – is the UK’s national organisation responsible for the research and delivery of sustainable fusion energy.
