Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) has just signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Kyoto Fusioneering Ltd (KF) to collaborate on the delivery of technical services to support the growing international fusion reactor market. The collaborators will have a key focus on testing related to tritium.
Under the MoU, the CNL will work with KF to help accelerate the progression of fusion as a source of clean energy. The MoU covers cooperation in areas including the exchange of scientific information, the shared use of technical equipment and facilities, the delivery of joint research projects, and the exchange of technical personnel. The collaboration aims to provide fusion developers with better access to testing and demonstration equipment.
KF was spun out of Kyoto University in 2019 as Japan’s first fusion start-up company. Their goal is to develop advanced technologies for commercial fusion reactors building on decades of research at the university. One of the advanced technologies the company is developing for commercial fusion is tritium fuel cycle technologies and breeding blankets for tritium production and power generation.
Tritium is an isotope of hydrogen that will provide the fuel for many fusion reactor designs under development. CNL has a long and extensive history in the development of technologies and systems to safely manage tritium. It operates a dedicated, state-of-the-art Tritium Facility (TF) at its Chalk River Laboratories site in Ontario. The TF was originally constructed to support the tritium technology needs for Candu reactors and to support the Canadian fusion program. The facility is able to handle significant amounts of tritium for research and development.
Jeff Griffin is the CNL Vice-President of Science and Technology. He said, “CNL is currently exploring plans to establish an internationally unique fusion fuel cycle and demonstration loop at the Chalk River Laboratories campus. This partnership with Kyoto Fusioneering could build on this work and contribute to the setup of a demonstration-scale test loop, which would combine elements of Kyoto Fusioneering's Unique Integrated Testing Facility (UNITY) concept with CNL's expertise in the fusion fuel cycle.”
Taka Nagao is the CEO of KF. He said, “Kyoto Fusioneering is providing solutions for fusion energy based on innovative and unique research from Kyoto University and high quality Japanese industrial technology. The cooperation with CNL will provide a very strong and important contribution to the international development of fusion energy, which has the potential to solve key energy and environmental problems on this planet.”
Earlier this month, KF signed an agreement with the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority to develop fusion-related technologies. There are also plans to develop a fusion-grade silicon carbide composite material.
The agreement is the latest in a series of fusion-related projects recently announced by CNL. These include working with private fusion developer General Fusion on joint projects to accelerate the deployment of commercial fusion power in Canada as well as an agreement with U.K.-based First Light Fusion to design a system for extracting tritium from a planned sixty megawatt pilot power plant reactor.
Joe McBrearty is the President and CEO of CNL. He said, “Our best approach to confront climate change here in Canada and around the world is by working together, and sharing our technical knowledge and resources in the pursuit of next-generation clean energy solutions. That is at the heart of this agreement with Kyoto Fusioneering, an incredibly talented and ambitious company which shares our optimism in fusion power. Working together, we hope to accelerate this promising new technology, by providing fusion vendors with access to the products and services they need to develop, qualify and deploy their technologies.”