Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is backing a new £320million project to create limitless energy, with the UK playing a huge role in the process. The British fusion project will see nuclear physicists from the nation take centre stage.
The Culham Centre for Fusion Energy will be the location for the project, with Canadian private firm General Fusion – invested in by Jeff Bezos – leading the way. They were signals of a vote of confidence in Britain, with testing to be done here.
The Magnetised Target Fusion technology will be tested by General Fusion at the facility, aiming to use breakthrough processes to replicate the fusion processes used by stars.
But why the UK? Well, many have said it is due to England “still home to the best nuclear physicists in the world”. If there is anywhere in the world, fusion expert Richard Dinan, speaking to Science Digest stated that if ‘you want to find the best talent pool, it would be in England’.
The Culham Centre for Fusion Energy is a world-renowned facility where some of the best scientists in the world work. All European scientists working on ITER (the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) are based here.
In addition, the world record for fusion was set by UK based JET (the Joint European Torus). High praise must be given to the nation, with investing giants such as Jeff Bezos acknowledging that the UK is the best at the process.
This technology could see a surge in renewable technology being used in the UK. There is a huge race to become net-zero and the UK government is striving to reach targets by 2050. To play your part and find out which providers use renewable products by using this link, as well as save money you can use this list of energy suppliers.
With more and more renewable technologies being developed to help reduce climate change and become more energy-efficient, fusion has been labelled as the “holy grail” energy source. This process could create limitless power, all by harnessing the same power created by our Sun.
The founder of revolutionary company Pulsar Fusion, Mr Dinan is aiming to utilise this technology in space. The possibilities are exciting and endless, all here in our nation.
The size of the facility will be roughly 70% the size of a commercial reactor and could cost more than $400m. Plans are in place for the project to be officially operational by 2025.
The UK Atomic Energy Authority and General Fusion will agree to a long-term commercial lease that will aim to provide jobs to many in the green sector. Other projects in Europe are underway, such as the Iter project in the south of France.
However, delays on the Iter project have shown stark warnings that progress could be slow, especially due to current pandemic restrictions and other world events taking place. General Fusion’s effort is seen as one of the most advanced in the world, raising more than $100m in its last round of funding.