Eni and the US Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a company born as a spin-out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have signed an agreement that will allow Eni to acquire a share of the capital of CFS to develop the first nuclear plant in the US that will produce energy thanks to the merger. What is nuclear fusion? Quite the opposite of fission (or splitting of the atom), nuclear fusion replicates the energy source of the sun and stars: for this reason it is considered a safe, environmentally friendly way of producing electricity and a virtually inexhaustible production process.
CFS was formed by a group of former MIT researchers and scientists who have been engaged in research on plasma physics and fusion for years. Eni will acquire a significant stake in the company against a initial investment of 50 million dollars. Eni will join the Board of Directors and will be able to make its contribution also in terms of resources and industrial know-how. Eni's entry into the CFS will be completed by the second quarter of 2018
THE AMERICAN PROJECT
Il Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) it is in the running to make nuclear fusion available in the next 15 years. For this purpose, he has just set up the Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) company, in which, as MIT announces on its website, the Italian Eni participates with 50 million dollars. The goal is to achieve fusion using high-temperature superconductors already on the market.
This type of superconductor, according to the American research center, could lead to the development of a reactor smaller, cheaper and easier to build compared to ongoing projects, including the international Iter (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) project under development in the South of France. The first challenge of the MIT project will be to transform superconductors into large electromagnets capable of generating powerful magnetic fields intended to lift and confine the matter obtained from the nuclear fusion process, i.e. the plasma, to prevent it from entering in contact with the walls of the structure that houses it. The high temperatures of this form of matter make it necessary to contain it thanks to magnetic fields, otherwise the structure would melt. Within the next 10 years, MIT aims to develop a prototype reactor, at the base of a pilot plant capable of producing 200 megawatts of energy
Eni's entry into the CFS will be completed by the second quarter of 2018. At the same time, Eni signed an agreement with MIT which will allow the company to jointly carry out research programs on plasma physics, fusion reactor technologies, and new generation electromagnet technologies.
The agreements are part of the Eni's decarbonisation strategy and represent the will to strengthen research partnerships in the energy sector, also thanks to the development of game changer technologies, to respond to growing energy needs with sustainable solutions in environmental and economic terms.
The Chief Executive Officer Claudio Descalzi commented: “Today is a really important day for us because, thanks to this agreement, Eni takes a significant step forward towards the development of alternative energy sources with an ever lower environmental impact. Fusion is the real energy source of the future, since it is completely sustainable, it does not release emissions or waste, and is potentially inexhaustible. A goal that we at Eni are increasingly determined to achieve in the short term".
BUT EUROPE IS NOT WATCHING
As we said, Europe has also been working on the ITER project for some time (acronym of International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) and is building a nuclear fusion reactor in Cadarache, in the south of France, on behalf of an international consortium made up of the European Union, Russia, China, Japan, the United States of America, India and South Korea. Italy is also participating to the project and is led by Enea.
Enea itself, the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Economic Development, has launched in Italy a tender worth 500 million euros for a nuclear fusion site: by 10 April it will be communicated in which Region the Divertor Tokamak Test laboratory (DDT), the experimental structure, will be built.
(Updated at 12:18pm Friday March 9th)
