(by Monica Paternesi)
A new facility Eni is to build in Culham, Oxfordshire, in
collaboration with the Atomic Energy Authority of the United
Kingdom (UKEA), will be the largest plant in the world for the
management of tritium, a fundamental fuel for nuclear fusion,
the Italian energy giant said Friday.
The plant will be completed in 2028 and represents the central
core of the agreement signed by the energy group with the UKEA
that provides for a broader collaboration on the nuclear fusion
front, what seems to be becoming the most challenging bet in the
field of energy diversification, at a global level.
The H3AT plant is designed with the aim of being a world center
of excellence for industry and the academic world to study
innovative solutions for processing, storing and recycling the
tritium fundamental for the supply and generation of fuel in
future fusion power plants.
The partnership between Eni and the Atomic Energy Authority,
explains the company, combines UKEA's experience in fusion
research and development and the energy group's industrial
capabilities in plant engineering, implementation and management
of activities.
And according to Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi, "fusion energy is set
to revolutionize the global energy transition path, accelerating
the decarbonization of our economic and industrial systems,
helping to spread access to energy and reduce energy dependency
links as part of a fairer transition.
"Eni is strongly committed to various areas of research and
development of this complex technology, in which it has always
firmly believed. "Today, with our UK partners, we are laying the
foundations for further progress towards the goal of fusion
which - if we take into account its enormous scope of
technological innovation - is increasingly concrete and not so
far away in time".
In fact, Eni is already active in the field of fusion through
several projects and is a shareholder of Commonwealth Fusion
Systems (CFS), a spin-out of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology in Boston.
The hypothesis is to start the first fusion power plant in the
early 2030s. In Italy, the energy group has a 25% joint venture
in the DTT (Divertor Tokamak Test) project, together with Enea
and with research institutions and universities.
Today's agreement therefore constitutes another step forward on
the energy transition front.
"The UKEA-Eni H3AT Tritium Loop Facility will not only position
the UK as a leader in the development of fusion fuel
technologies, but will also accelerate progress towards a clean
energy future that is safe, sustainable and abundant", stated
the UK Climate Minister, Kerry McCarthy.
"H3AT, the largest and most advanced plant in the world",
underlined Sir Ian Chapman, CEO of UKEA, "will position itself
as a new point of reference laying the foundations for further
innovative discoveries in the field of fusion fuel".
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