Nuclear fusion is a potential source of clean electricity that could have a myriad of uses that could help mitigate climate change. Fusion releases huge amounts of energy by combining light elements in the form of plasma. Plasma is the hot, charged state of matter composed of free electrons and atomic nuclei that makes up ninety-nine percent of the visible universe. Laboratories around the world are working on harnessing fusion reactions to create a virtually inexhaustible supply of safe and clean power to generate electricity.
     Stellarators are twisty devices designed to reproduce the fusion energy that powers the sun and stars. They primarily rely on external magnetic fields to confine a plasma. The stellarator was invented by American scientist Lyman Spitzer of Princeton University in 1951. Much of its early development was carried out by his team at what became the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). PPPL has been working for over fifty years on developing the theoretical knowledge and advanced engineering to enable fusion to power the U.S. and the world.
     Early in the development of stellarators, technical problems convinced researchers that they were not a viable route to commercial fusion. Research interest shifted to tokamaks instead. However, in time, tokamaks encountered serious technical problems and interest shifted back to stellarators. Stellarators can operate without the risk of damaging disruptions that doughnut-shaped fusion reactors called tokamaks encounter.
     Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have found a mathematical shortcut that could help harness nuclear fusion for energy production on Earth. The new methodology permits researchers to more easily predict how well a stellarator can retain the heat crucial to fusion reactors.
     The new technique measures how well a stellarator’s magnetic field can hold on to the fastest-moving atomic nuclei in the hot plasma. This is critical to boosting the overall heat and aiding the fusion reactions. The main question is how scientists can find a shape that holds in as much the heat as possible.
     Alexandra LeViness is a graduate student in plasma physics at the PPPL. “This research shows that we can find the best magnetic field shape for confining heat by calculating something easier—how far the fast particles drift away from the curved magnetic field surfaces in the center of the plasma. This behavior is described by a number known as gamma C, which we discovered consistently corresponds with plasma confinement.” LeViness added that the shortcut advances future stellarator research. He went on to say that “because the more fast-moving particles that stay in the center of the plasma, the hotter the fuel and the more efficient the stellarator will be.”
      Elizabeth Paul is an assistant professor of applied physics at Columbia University and a former presidential fellow at Princeton University. She said, “But using techniques like the one LeViness studied, we have been able to find magnetic configurations for stellarators that contain heat as well as tokamaks can. It’s more challenging for stellarators, but LeViness has helped show that it’s possible.

     The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is a project to construct a prototype of a fusion reactor. Thirty-five different countries are collaborating to build ITER. The European Union (plus Switzerland and the U.K.) are contributing almost half of the cost of its construction. Six other members of the collaboration are contributing equally to the rest of the cost. Construction began in 2010 and continues in Cadarache, southern France. There have been delays caused by technical problems. Many of the members are constructing components for the ITER and there have been problems integrating these diverse components into the ITER.
     ITER is a major international project to construct a tokamak fusion device designed to prove the feasibility of fusion as a large-scale and carbon-free source of energy. The goal of ITER is to operate at five hundred megawatts for at least four hundred continuous seconds with fifty megawatts of plasma heating power input. It appears that an additional three hundred megawatts of electricity input may be required when the ITER is in operation. No electricity will be generated at ITER.
     The St Petersburg-based JSC NIIEFA is part of the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom. It has started acceptance tests of a full-scale prototype of the first wall panel for the ITER project.
     The first stage of the acceptance testing was the measurement of the geometric parameters of the prototype. These tests are carried out using an optical scanning machine. The purpose of these measurements is to check the compliance of the product with the drawings. They will also build a 3-D model with real dimensions based on the data collected.
     At the headquarters of the ITER Organization, the 3-D model will be integrated into the overall virtual assembly of the reactor to check compatibility with other components. The prototype of the first wall panel will undergo static and dynamic hydraulic tests. There will be a hot helium leak test by the end of this year. Based on the results of the acceptance tests, the ITER Organization will decide on the transition to serial production of the first batch of wall panels.
     According to Rosatom, the panels of the first wall of the reactor are “one of the most important and technically complex components” of ITER. Along with the diverter, the wall panels are in direct contact with the hot plasma. Each panel consists of forty “fingers”. Each finger is a complex multi-layer construction of sixteen-millimeter by sixteen-millimeter beryllium cubes soldered onto copper-chromium-zirconium alloy. The alloy is bonded to the steel base by diffusion welding. Each panel measures about two meters by one and a half meters by one half meter. They weigh about eighteen hundred pounds. The panels have different shapes. The scientists of JSC NIIEFA have developed forty versions of their design.
     In the ITER project, Russia’s responsibilities include the construction of one hundred seventy-nine of most energy intensive panels which will be subjected to up to five megawatts per square meter in the first wall. This section is forty percent of the total area of the reactor wall.

     Australian company Silex Systems Ltd. has been developing full-scale laser system modules for deployment in Global Lasers Enrichment (GLE) commercial demonstration facility in the U.S. Testing has been completed on the second module.
     Silex mentioned that the second module was constructed and tested at its laser technology development center in Lucan Heights, near Sydney in less than twelve months. This is in line with the accelerated schedule for the commercial-scale pilot demonstration project.
     The laser system module is currently being prepared for shipments to GLE’s facility in Wilmington, North Carolina. It is expected to be installed and operational by the end of 2023, subject to transportation scheduling.
     Michael Goldsworthy is the Managing Director and CEO of Silex. He said, “This is another key milestone for the SILEX uranium enrichment technology which demonstrates our ability to efficiently build full-scale SILEX laser system modules, and to incorporate improvements which enable increased reliability under commercial-scale conditions for extended periods. We are also encouraged with the accelerated efforts in GLE’s Test Loop facility through which the balance of pilot systems, including the separator and gas handling equipment, are progressing towards completion of construction. We are hopeful that commissioning of the full pilot facility could commence in Q1 CY2024.”
     The first full-scale laser system module developed by Silex completed eight months of testing in August 2022. Following the testing, it was packaged for shipment to GLE’s Test Loop Facility at Wilmington. It was expected to be installed before the end of 2022.
     GLE is the exclusive worldwide licensee of the SILEX laser technology for uranium enrichment.
      GLE is a joint venture between Silex (fifty one percent) and Cameco (forty nine percent). Last February, the two companies agreed to a plan and a budget for CY2023 that accelerates activities in the commercial-scale pilot demonstration project for the SILEX uranium enrichment technology as early as mid-2024. At that time, Silex said, “If the technology demonstration project can be successfully completed on an accelerated timeline, this preserves the option to commence commercial operations at the Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility (PLEF) up to three years earlier than originally planned, subject to the availability of government and industry support, as well as geopolitical and market factors.”
     In a recent statement, Silex said, “Assuming successful achievement of TRL-6 and a positive feasibility study, GLE could potentially deploy the PLEF for the production of natural grade uranium (in the form of UF6) via enrichment of Department of Energy-owned tails inventories under a landmark agreement signed between GLE and the DOE in 2016.”
     The PLEF project has the potential to produce up to five million pounds of uranium oxide annually for about thirty years. GLE will produce natural grade UF6 via tails processing. They are also considering further development of PLEF to use the technology to produce low-enriched uranium and so-called LEU+ from natural UF6 to supply fuel for existing reactors. They may also produce high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) for next generation advanced small modular reactors (SMRs). HALEU is critical to the fueling of many SMR designs.

     Gentilly 2 was Québec’s only operating nuclear power plant in 2012. It had an installed capacity of six hundred and seventy-five megawatts of electricity. In September of 2012, the provincial government announced that a planned refurbishment of the plant would no longer proceed. The Candu reactor is located on the south shore of the Fleuve Saint Lurent (Saint Lawrence River) in the town of Becancour. Gentilly 2 was closed at the end of 2012 after operating for twenty-nine years.
     Hydro-Québec is a corporation owned by the Québec government. It recently responded to reports in the Canadian press that President and CEO Michael Sabia had initiated a feasibility study regarding the possibility of recommissioning the plant.
     In a press release, Hydro-Québec said, “Remember that the demand for clean electricity will increase significantly over the next few years, in order to decarbonize the Quebec economy, which represents an immense challenge. An assessment of the current state of the plant is underway, in order to assess our options and inform our reflections on Québec’s future energy supply. We are evaluating different possible options to increase the production of clean electricity. It would be irresponsible at this time to exclude certain energy sectors as the province faces the challenges of increasing electricity demand.”
     Gentilly 2 was decommissioned immediately after it shut down for the last time in December of 2012. All the nuclear fuel was removed by September 2013. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) issued a decommissioning license for the plant in July of 2016. All of its spent nuclear fuel had been transferred to dry storage on site by December of 2020. The decommissioning plan called for transitioning the plant to a forty-year monitored storage phase before beginning final dismantling in 2057. Late last year, Hydro-Québec stated that it was exploring the possibility of dismantling some of the buildings on the site earlier than had been planned.
     More than ninety nine percent of Hydro-Québec’s electricity output is generated from renewable sources. Most of that output comes from Hydro-Québec’s sixty-three hydropower generating stations and twenty eight reservoirs. However, according to the company’s Strategic Plan 2022-2026, more than one hundred terawatt hours of additional clear electricity will be necessary if the province is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025. According to that plan, the company intends to increase its generating capacity by five thousand megawatts by upgrading its current hydropower plants and adding wind power capacity.
      Nationally, Canada generates more than sixteen percent of its electricity from eighteen Candu nuclear power reactors at the Bruce, Darlington and Pickering sites in Ontario and a single reactor at Point Lepreau in New Bruswick. Alberta, New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan are pursuing a strategic plant to develop and deploy small modular reactors (SMRs). In July of this year, the government of Ontario announced the start of pre-development work to construct up to forty-eight hundred megawatts of new large scale capacity at Bruce Power’s existing site.
    Earlier this week, the Canadian government launched its vision for transforming Canada’s electricity sector. Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson described the project as “truly transformational and nation-building.” Powering Canada Forward will inform how the Canadian federal government plans to work with partners and stakeholders as it develops Canada’s first Clean Energy Strategy, which will be released next year.