Matt Stephenson is leading efforts to turn the “holy grail of energy” into a practical reality – from a site in Rotherham where Orgreave Colliery once sat. Chris Burn went to meet him.
Rotherham’s Advanced Manufacturing Park now sits on what was once part of the Orgreave Colliery; now the former coal-mining area is home to a crucible for extremely ambitious plans to create a very different type of energy to meet the nation’s needs.
ergy Authority has been operating from a £22m facility on the park designed to facilitate the long-hoped for birth of a feasible fusion technology industry for the country.
The site’s work complements UKAEA’s existing main base in Oxfordshire and is ideally located for plans to open a £20bn fusion powerplant by around 2040 in nearby West Burton, North Nottinghamshire at a location that is a former coal-fired power station itself.
It is hoped the plant will demonstrate how fusion energy can produce eco-friendly electricity in a process where two forms of hydrogen are heated together at 150 million degrees centigrade – 10 times hotter than the sun – to create helium and release large amounts of energy. But significant technical challenges currently remain in turning that energy into electricity at a commercially-viable level.
Rotherham’s Advanced Manufacturing Park now sits on what was once part of the Orgreave Colliery; now the former coal-mining area is home to a crucible for extremely ambitious plans to create a very different type of energy to meet the nation’s needs.
ergy Authority has been operating from a £22m facility on the park designed to facilitate the long-hoped for birth of a feasible fusion technology industry for the country.
The site’s work complements UKAEA’s existing main base in Oxfordshire and is ideally located for plans to open a £20bn fusion powerplant by around 2040 in nearby West Burton, North Nottinghamshire at a location that is a former coal-fired power station itself.
It is hoped the plant will demonstrate how fusion energy can produce eco-friendly electricity in a process where two forms of hydrogen are heated together at 150 million degrees centigrade – 10 times hotter than the sun – to create helium and release large amounts of energy. But significant technical challenges currently remain in turning that energy into electricity at a commercially-viable level.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 So Matt, we're here at the Fusion Technology Facility in Rotherham.
00:03 Can you tell me a little bit more about the work that's going on here?
00:07 Okay, the work that's going on here is really enabling the Fusion supply chain.
00:11 So we're looking into the how of the problem we're trying to solve with Fusion.
00:17 So we're looking at developing the materials, the sub-assemblies and
00:20 the assemblies that are going to go into the future Fusion machines going forward.
00:23 We're looking at qualification materials, the development of materials, and
00:28 the monitoring of materials that are going to go into the next Fusion machines.
00:31 So one of the things that's coming in a few years down the road in West Burton in
00:36 North Nottinghamshire is a big power plant that's hopefully going to be the start of
00:41 kind of Fusion technology coming into the grid.
00:44 How does what's going on here in Rotherham affect what's being planned
00:48 across the road, down the road in North Nottinghamshire?
00:52 Okay, the work here is going to be developing those materials and
00:58 those assemblies and sub-assemblies that are going to be going into the West Burton plant,
01:03 as well as developing the skills going forward.
01:06 We've got a comprehensive outreach program ranging from very young to the much older,
01:11 in terms of attracting the skills into this supply chain,
01:14 into this new industry that we're creating.
01:17 From a materials perspective, we're working very closely with the universities,
01:20 with the catapults, and most importantly with the industry,
01:24 to bring new members into the supply chain,
01:28 to start to create that world supply chain for Fusion going forward.
01:32 And using the West Burton site as that first step on the way.
01:36 So Fusion technology is something that's been talked about for a long time in this country,
01:40 and the hope is that it's going to make a big difference.
01:43 But what difference will it make if West Burton does get off the ground,
01:49 and things start to happen as a result of the work taking place here?
01:52 What difference will it make to the ordinary person?
01:55 When West Burton starts delivering energy to the grid,
01:58 it will do it in a very sustainable, efficient way.
02:01 It's a world-leading technology, it's often referred to as the ultimate energy source,
02:06 and it will put us on the map as a country in taking that technology forward.
02:11 The second side of it are the spin-off technologies.
02:14 We're often operating at the limits of physics, materials development,
02:18 and we have a lot of expertise here which is relevant to other sectors and industries
02:22 which are going to boost the UK supply chain.
02:24 And what are the benefits for Yorkshire and North Nottinghamshire
02:28 for having these two separate but linked sites in the area?
02:34 Again, socially, massive amounts.
02:37 It is an interesting technology, it is a world-changing technology,
02:41 which is going to inspire people right from young age to people of my age.
02:50 That inspiration is going to help us develop these technologies
02:54 and hopefully bring people into this journey that we're going on.
02:58 From an economic perspective, this is a huge undertaking.
03:03 It will be a world first,
03:06 and the technologies that are going to be required to be developed
03:09 are going to be key to the area, and they're going to be based here.
03:13 The legacy of STEP and the legacy of what we want to leave here
03:16 is a world-leading fusion supply chain in the area,
03:19 and that's going to be a huge, huge benefit for the region.
03:22 And we're stood in front of...
03:24 So there's lots of different projects taking place at the Rotherham site,
03:26 but we're stood in front of one piece of technology
03:29 that's relatively new to this site, it's called Freya.
03:32 Could you tell me a little bit about Freya
03:34 and what you're hoping to achieve with her?
03:39 So Freya is a vacuum induction furnace,
03:43 and this is going to be...
03:45 The research that we're carrying out here is going to be informing
03:49 two very large fusion programmes,
03:52 ITER in the south of France,
03:53 and also the Jet Decommissioning Plan in Cullom.
03:57 And what we're going to be developing here are procedures.
04:00 We won't be using active materials here,
04:02 but we are looking at developing the process and the procedure
04:05 around extracting tritium from waste materials.
04:11 But this is very important to state,
04:12 this won't be active materials that we're going to be using.
04:18 And we're looking at the development of a process
04:20 around how we can use that to make the decommissioning activities safe,
04:26 and most importantly, thorough in terms of going forward.
04:30 And final question, how excited are you
04:32 about the potential of fusion technology for this country and the world?
04:37 Very, in short.
04:38 I've given my second half of my career to this endeavour
04:42 because it's so exciting.
04:44 Being from the region, I've grown up with the legacy of coal,
04:48 and to be able to bring fusion to Yorkshire and the surrounding area
04:52 is huge for me.
04:54 It's a big personal quest.
04:56 As I say, socially and economically, the benefits are huge,
04:59 and to be part of it is very, very, very important.