Materials science company Lucideon has won three contracts with the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to support the delivery of sustainable fusion energy.
The Stone-based firm will work on the UKAEA’s Fusion Futures Industry Capability Programme, the authority’s investment into industry capability and capacity.
Fusion energy recreates the same process that powers the sun, fusing isotopes to release enormous amounts of energy. It has the potential to revolutionise the global energy industry, but extreme temperatures and intense neutron fields generated by the reaction result in harsh conditions and particle damage.
Lucideon’s work will focus on developing materials and process technologies in advanced ceramics to create solutions capable of withstanding the extreme environments encountered.
Tim Abbott, Director of Commerce at Lucideon, said: “Each project awarded to Lucideon by the UKAEA centres on developing the materials and processes of the future that are needed to ensure the UK maintains its global technical lead in fusion energy.
“Advanced ceramics offer a solution to withstand the intensive demands of a fusion environment, and we are working with UKAEA to bring the new technologies needed for future fusion plants.
“The three projects call on the expertise of our scientific and technical teams, as well as our state-of-the-art facilities for advanced materials and processes at our Staffordshire headquarters.
“From there we provide insight into the behaviour of materials in extreme environments to create solutions for the future for this potentially revolutionary energy source.”
James Wade-Zhu, Group Leader of Non-metallics and LIBRTI Technical Lead at UKAEA, added: “Partnering with industrial organisations such as Lucideon and others helps the UK lead the way in fusion energy.
“Scaling up materials and processes is a key step toward making fusion a practical reality, and we are excited by these contracts to support our collective effort to help make that future possible.”
