The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKEA) has awarded a total of £19M (USD 24M) in two funding announcements for lithium and other technologies to advance fusion energy development.
In the first of the two rounds, nine organizations including start-ups, SMEs and academia were awarded £11.6M for novel fusion materials and manufacturing and heating and cooling for fusion devices.
In the second, five organizations have been awarded £7.4M to develop lithium technology for fusion.
For both sets of projects, the feasibility has been demonstrated in an earlier funding round and the new funding from the ongoing Fusion Industry Program, of up to £1.5M for individual projects, is aimed to enable the development of proof of concepts.
Novel nuclear fusion materials and innovative heating and cooling systems are essential to improving the availability of fusion power plants and driving up their performance.