At a livestreamed Horizon EUROfusion event in Brussels on 5 July 2022, EUROfusion celebrated the start of conceptual design activities for Europe's first demonstration fusion power plant DEMO. This first-of-a-kind fusion device will demonstrate the net production of 300 to 500 megawatts of clean and safe fusion energy to the grid by the middle of the century. A special issue of the scientific journal Fusion Engineering & Design presents the state of the art in designing Europe's demonstration fusion power plant DEMO.
The Horizon EUROfusion was the official launch event of the EUROfusion programme as part of Horizon Europe, the 2021-2025 European research and innovation funding programme.
The event was the first in a planned annual series where the EUROfusion consortium celebrates European progress in fusion research, such as its recent fusion energy record and progress towards a heat exhaust for future fusion power plants.
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| DEMO - demonstration power plant. Credit: EUROfusion Consortium and F4E |
Developing fusion energy
Fusion is the process that powers stars like our sun and promises an inherently safe and near-limitless clean energy source for the long term here on earth. Fusion energy would generate immense amounts of energy from mere grams of abundant fuels found worldwide.
The EUROfusion research consortium brings together experts from across Europe in the world's leading and most comprehensive fusion R&D programme. EUROfusion is co-funded by the European Union via the Euratom Research and Training Programme. From JET to ITER to DEMO, the European fusion roadmap lays out the consortium's path towards industrial-scale fusion power plant technology by the middle of the century.
EUROfusion activities directly support the global fusion experiment ITER and work with European industry to develop the first-of-a-kind demonstration fusion power plant DEMO. Earlier this year, EUROfusion researchers showed the potential of fusion by setting a world record of 59 megajoules of sustained fusion energy at the Joint European Torus device (JET) in Culham, UK.
Watch the Horizon EUROfusion event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-fC2Wm0FiI
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| Fusion power plant. Credit: UKAEA |
More information: www.euro-fusion.org
Source: www.euro-fusion.org
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