(CLO) Startup company Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) has just announced that the US state of Virginia will become the site of the world's first grid-scale nuclear fusion power plant.
The plant will harness clean energy from nuclear fusion and provide electricity in the early 2030s.
CFS, a leader in nuclear fusion, said it will invest billions of dollars to build a power plant near Richmond, Virginia. When completed, the plant will be capable of producing 400 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 150,000 homes, according to CEO Bob Mumgaard.
“This will be the first time fusion energy will be available at grid scale,” Mumgaard said. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin welcomed the announcement, calling it a “historic moment” for the state and the world.
Sketch of power generation facility. Photo: CFS
The nuclear fusion power plant would mark a major milestone in the effort to move fusion energy from research laboratories to commercial applications. However, the road to achieving this goal is not easy, as nuclear fusion technology has yet to prove its feasibility on a commercial scale.
Nuclear fusion, the process that powers stars like the Sun, is a potentially incredibly clean and abundant source of energy. It involves combining atoms to create energy using the most common element in the universe – hydrogen. One of the most researched technologies in this area is the tokamak, a machine designed to hold plasma (extremely hot ionized gas) during the reaction.
The beauty of nuclear fusion is that it is pollution-free, emits no greenhouse gases, and produces no long-lasting nuclear waste or radioactivity like current fission technology. However, moving from experiments to practical applications is extremely difficult.
CFS acknowledges that fusion technology is not ready for immediate development. CFS is building a tokamak that could demonstrate the ability to generate net fusion energy, meaning the fusion reaction produces more energy than is consumed to sustain it. The company hopes to produce its first plasma in 2026 and hopes to achieve net fusion energy soon after.
“Our next step is to build, own and operate a nuclear fusion power plant to bring this energy to the grid,” Mumgaard said.
CFS hopes the Virginia plant will be the first step in a plan to build thousands of fusion power plants globally in the future.
Ngoc Anh (according to CNN, Virgina Mercury, Reuters)
Source: https://www.conggluan.vn/cong-ty-my-cong-bo-nha-may-nhet-hach-quy-mo-luoi-dien-dau-tien-tren-the-gioi-post326431.html
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