Sci/Tech General Fusion to Build Demonstration Plant in UK

[Ghan]

Canadian firm General Fusion has announced they will be building a scale demonstration plant for their new Magnetized Target Fusion power reactor in the UK. The new facility will be built at Culham, home to the UK's national fusion research program. It won't generate power, but will be 70% the size of a commercial reactor.

More here: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57512229

I have been following General Fusion for a while and it is a really neat implementation if they can make it work. Their MTF reactor doesn't maintain constant fusion - it operates in bursts of fusion, which makes it easier to handle the extreme temperatures.

 

[The Helper]

Wow, an actual fusion reactor but what is the deal with it does not actually generate power? Is it just proof of concept? Seems like even if it is that it should produce power otherwise what good is it?

 

[Ghan]

Not sure. They might just mean that this demonstration reactor won't be sending power out to the grid.

General Fusion has actually been around a while. Here is a rather old TED talk from their chief scientist: