Tokamak Energy

Last updated

Tokamak Energy, Ltd.
Company type Private
Industry Fusion Power
Founded2009;16 years ago (2009)
Headquarters Oxford, United Kingdom [1]
Key people
Number of employees
250
Subsidiaries Tokamak Energy Inc.
Website www.tokamakenergy.co.uk

Tokamak Energy is a fusion power company based near Oxford in the United Kingdom, [2] established in 2009. [3] The company is pursuing the global deployment of commercial fusion energy in the 2030s through the combined development of spherical tokamaks with high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets. It is also developing HTS magnet technology for other applications.

Contents

History

Tokamak Energy is a spin-off from the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy based in Oxfordshire. [4] As of 2022, the company had raised $250m, comprising $50m from the UK and US governments and $200m from private investors, including L&G Capital, Dr. Hans-Peter Wild, and David Harding, CEO of Winton Capital. [3]

One of the company's first devices was the copper magnet-based ST-25; in 2015 this was upgraded with rare earth–barium–copper oxide (REBCO) high temperature superconductors (HTS) to the ST-25HTS. [5]

The company's most recently developed and currently operating device is the ST40 high-field compact spherical tokamak, which reached a plasma temperature of 15 million degrees Celsius in 2018 [6] [7] [8] and then in March 2022 achieved a landmark plasma ion temperature in excess of 100 million degrees Celsius, [9] considered the threshold for commercial fusion. A peer-reviewed scientific paper on the achievement has been published by the Institute of Physics. [10]

Tokamak Energy is a leader in HTS magnet development. In 2020 the company announced it had achieved a world record 24 Tesla field at 20K with its patented technology. In 2023, it announced it had built a world-first set of new generation HTS magnets to be assembled and tested in fusion power plant-relevant scenarios in its new Demo4 in-house facility. [11] It is also developing HTS technology for applications outside of fusion energy.

In October 2022, the UKAEA and Tokamak Energy announced a five-year framework agreement to collaborate on developing spherical tokamaks for power generation. The collaboration focuses on areas including materials development and testing, power generation, fuel cycle, diagnostics, and remote handling, [12] in the UKAEA's STEP machine.

In May 2023, the United States Department of Energy granted the company's US subsidiary, Tokamak Energy Inc., additional funding [13] through its Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program, which partners selected companies with U.S. national laboratories, universities, and other institutions to advance designs and R&D for fusion power plants, representing a major step in the U.S.'s commitment to a pilot-scale demonstration of fusion within a decade.

On 27 July 2023, Tokamak Energy announced a partnership with Sumitomo Corporation for the development, implementation, and scaling up of commercial fusion energy in Japan and worldwide. [14]

In November 2024, the company secured $125mn in a funding round led by East X Ventures and Lingotto Investment Management, which saw investment from British Patient Capital, Furukawa Electric Company, global maritime company BW Group and US-based Sabanci Climate Ventures. [15]

In December 2024, the UK and US launch a £40.5 million joint fusion project with Tokamak Energy. [16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Geschwindt, Siôn (20 November 2024). "Tokamak Energy secures $125M to commercialise fusion power". thenextweb.com. The Next Web. Retrieved 7 August 2025.
  2. ↑ Energy, Tokamak. "Contact » Tokamak Energy" . Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  3. 1 2 "Tokamak Energy on track to be the first private company to achieve 100 million degree plasma temperature, paving the way to commercial fusion energy". www.itnewsonline.com. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  4. ↑ "ST40 achieves 15-million-degree target - World Nuclear News". world-nuclear-news.org. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  5. ↑ Windridge, Melanie (2020), "Tokamak Energy" , Commercialising Fusion Energy, IOP Publishing, doi:10.1088/978-0-7503-2719-0ch5, ISBN   978-0-7503-2719-0, S2CID   241527511 , retrieved 13 December 2021
  6. ↑ "Tokamak Energy hits 15 million degree fusion milestone". The Engineer. 6 June 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  7. ↑ "Fusion power is attracting private-sector interest". The Economist. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  8. ↑ Gryaznevich, M.; Nicolai, A.; Chuyanov, V.; Team, Tokamak Energy Ltd. (2021). "St40 Progress Towards Optimized Neutron Production". Problems of Atomic Science and Technology, Ser. Thermonuclear Fusion. 44 (2): 107–110. doi: 10.21517/0202-3822-2021-44-2-107-110 . ISSN   0202-3822. S2CID   238914316.
  9. ↑ "Tokamak Energy achieves crucial plasma temperature". World Nuclear News. 10 March 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  10. ↑ McNamara, S.A.M.; Asunta, O.; Bland, J.; Buxton, P.F.; Colgan, C.; Dnestrovskii, A.; Gemmell, M.; Gryaznevich, M.; Hoffman, D.; Janky, F.; Lister, J.B.; Lowe, H.F.; Mirfayzi, R.S.; Naylor, G.; Nemytov, V. (17 March 2023). "Achievement of ion temperatures in excess of 100 million degrees Kelvin in the compact high-field spherical tokamak ST40". Nuclear Fusion. 63 (5): 054002. Bibcode:2023NucFu..63e4002M. doi: 10.1088/1741-4326/acbec8 . ISSN   0029-5515.
  11. ↑ "The Engineer - World-first magnets set for fusion power plant testing". The Engineer. 2 September 2023. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  12. ↑ International, Power Engineering (10 October 2022). "Tokamak Energy and UKAEA team up to drive fusion innovation". Power Engineering International. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  13. ↑ "DOE Announces $46 Million for Commercial Fusion Energy Development". Energy.gov. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  14. ↑ "British-Japanese partnership for fusion development". World Nuclear News. 27 July 2023.
  15. ↑ Geschwindt, Siôn (20 November 2024). "Tokamak Energy secures $125M to commercialise fusion power". TNW | Deep-Tech. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
  16. ↑ "UK and US announce first joint project in fusion energy innovation". GOV.UK. Retrieved 10 April 2025.


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