The DOE’s multimillion-dollar Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program was established to support private companies in bringing fusion energy toward technical and commercial viability.
As part of the program, selected companies will team with U.S. national laboratories, universities, and others to address major technical and commercialisation milestones for the successful design of a fusion pilot plant.
Tokamak Energy, based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, is the first private fusion company to reach a plasma ion temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius in its ST40 tokamak, the threshold for commercial fusion.
Warrick Matthews, Tokamak Energy’s Managing Director, said: “We are delighted to be selected by the U.S. DOE for its Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program. It’s a fantastic endorsement of the strength of our team, technology and path to commercial fusion energy, combining the spherical tokamak with high temperature superconducting magnets.
“We look forward to working with the DOE on the next steps towards delivering clean, secure, affordable fusion power to the world, addressing the twin challenges of energy security and climate change.”
Tokamak Energy is the only private company with more than 10 years’ experience of designing, building and operating tokamaks. It already has strong links with U.S. national laboratories, including Oak Ridge, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Los Alamos, as well as the University of Illinois.
In addition, this week Tokamak Energy and General Atomics (GA) announced they have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate in the area of high temperature superconducting technology for fusion energy and other applications, such as aviation, naval, space and medical.
Tokamak Energy has previously received seven awards through the U.S. Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE) program. The INFUSE programme was established in 2019 to accelerate fusion energy development through public-private research partnerships.
