In England, looking for a place to build the first commercial thermonuclear power plant

The UK government is looking for a suitable site to build the world's first fusion reactor, which will supply electricity to the grid.

So the spherical tokamak (STEP), which is to be commissioned by 2040, is designed to provide energy and form a fusion energy center and related infrastructure. Of course, the plans are very ambitious, but they may well come true and here's why.

Controlled thermonuclear fusion is the dream of all mankind

Fusion energy has been the holy grail of many scientists and engineers since the 1940s. Already in the 1950s, optimistic forecasts were made that literally in a quarter of a century all over the world thermonuclear stations will be built, and since then the date of the beginning of a new era in the energy sector has shifted by 25 years.

And the main snag is that it is quite easy to obtain plasma under laboratory conditions, but creating a real and practical source of electricity turned out to be a difficult task.

The principle of operation of fusion reactors, including the British Fusion, on the selection of hydrogen isotopes and heating to colossal temperatures that can exceed the temperature of our sun by tens time.

In this case, a process of compression occurs inside a specially created magnetic field, and thereby triggering the reaction of fusion of hydrogen atoms into a helium atom and the release of a huge amount of energy during this process.

The problem with all existing fusion reactors is that there are still the reaction consumes significantly more energy than is generated during the operation of a thermonuclear reactor.

And in fact, this is saddening. Even with an extremely low efficiency, but a really working thermonuclear reactor would become a real revolution in the world energy.

Indeed, at present there are no completely safe and waste-free and most efficient sources of electricity in the world. And a fusion reactor could become the main source of completely safe, affordable and easily scalable electricity - an age of energy abundance.

Ambitious plans and implementation deadlines

The UK is serious about taking the lead in thermonuclear energy, therefore, according to the project, STEP to end 2021 year, proposals from the regions will be considered and a decision will be made on where exactly the first commercial thermonuclear station will be built.

It has already allocated $ 296 million for this. And by 2025, a project worth $ 248 million will be additionally financed, which will go to the construction of thermonuclear installations.

It is planned that by 2024 the project will be fully prepared with all engineering calculations, and all approvals and legal aspects will be settled by 2032. At the same time, the launch of the project is scheduled for 2040.

If the project is completed on time, England will become the first country in the world to implement a commercial thermonuclear reactor and this will be the beginning of a new era in energy.

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