British startup First Light, backed by China's Tencent, has demonstrated a new approach to fusion power generation that could lower the cost of the technology by providing cheap, clean nuclear fuel.

First Light Fusion Ltd. is among two dozen start-ups trying to get fusion power. The Oxford-based company has focused on developing fuel cells that catalyze the reaction.

First Light used a super-velocity cannon, which the engineers call the "Big Friendly Cannon", to fire a projectile at 6.5 km/s at a fuel target to generate power. The improved First Light target focuses this impact, while propelling the fuel to over 70 km/s. The design of the First Light propulsion system assumes that the target is dropped into the reaction chamber, and the projectile is launched down through the same entrance, so it catches up with the target and hits it at the right moment. When a pulse occurs, it is absorbed by the lithium inside the chamber, heating it up. The flowing fluid shields the chamber from a huge burst of energy, bypassing some of the toughest engineering challenges in other fusion approaches. Finally, a heat exchanger transfers the heat of the lithium to the water, generating steam that drives a turbine and generates electricity.

The fuel is compressed to a pressure of 10 terapascals, which is 100 million atmospheres higher than the pressure at the center of Jupiter. The fuel capsule inside the target has a size of several millimeters. When it burns, the fuel shrinks to less than 100 microns, which is less than the thickness of a human hair. It is assumed that in the power plant the process will be repeated every 30 seconds. Each target can release enough energy to power the average British home for two years, the company says.

“We have identified a viable path to commercial fusion,” said First Light chairman Bart Markus.

The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) confirmed the breakthrough.

Instead of splitting atoms like traditional fission reactors, fusion plants try to tie them together at temperatures up to 10 times the sun. This releases a huge amount of carbon-free energy without nuclear waste.

First Light, which is also backed by IP Group Plc and Oxford Sciences Innovation Plc, plans to produce the fuel targets at $10 to $20 each and is working with UBS Investment Bank AG to explore "strategic options." The startup spent about $59 million to achieve the first results.

A facility in the US has been inducing fusion for years by bombarding exotic gold-clad elements with high-energy lasers. First Light worked to reduce costs by replacing lasers with gas guns and finding alternatives to precious metals in fuel. According to CEO Nicholas Hawker, this approach costs about 1,000 times less.

First Light is currently working on a pilot plant producing about 150 MW of electricity. Its cost may be less than $1 billion, and the installation itself may appear in the 2030s.

Earlier, the Fusion Energy Center in Culham, UK, was able to break its own world record for the amount of energy obtained from fusion. During the experiment, scientists received 59 megajoules of energy in five seconds (11 megawatts of power).

You can read about the latest projects in the field of thermonuclear energy here.

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