Planned EU plant to re-create power of the Sun

Plans for a £600m (€771m) European fusion plant that will re-create the power source of the Sun took a step forward today.

Scientists and government officials from Britain and nine other countries signed an agreement to co-operate on the planning and design of HiPER (High Power Laser Energy Research Facility).

HiPER - which could be located in the UK - will demonstrate the technology needed to make commercial fusion power a reality for the first time.

Using powerful lasers, it will mimic the way the Sun burns nuclear fuel to generate vast amounts of energy.

Fusion involves fusing deuterium and tritium, both different atomic forms of hydrogen, together to trigger a nuclear reaction.

As well as powering the Sun and other stars, the same process is behind the destructive force of a hydrogen bomb.

Harnessing fusion power could provide a virtually unlimited source of clean sustainable energy. But enormous technical obstacles must be overcome first.

HiPER will use powerful lasers to compress a shell of deuterium and tritium fuel to a very high density, raising the temperature at the core of the reactor to around 100 million C.

The effect will be like striking a match to ignite the nuclear furnace, which then becomes self-sustaining.

A similar process takes place in the Sun, where enormous gravitational pressure squeezes hydrogen atoms together until they fuse.

Professor Mike Dunne, HiPER project leader and director of photon science at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) said: "The benefits of fusion energy cannot be overstated in a global setting where climate change, pollution, energy security and the ever increasing demand for energy consumption represent the principal challenge facing humankind. HiPER represents a very significant step on that journey."

Two large facilities nearing completion in California and Bordeaux are expected to demonstrate that laser fusion works within the next few years.

HiPER will take this "proof of principle" forward by establishing the route to a commercial power plant.

Fundamental science will also benefit from the facility, which will allow researchers to study temperatures and pressures only normally found at the centre of stars or in an exploding supernova (exploding star).

The future location of HiPER is yet to be agreed, but UK is one of the favoured sites.

Britain agreed to be part of the project last year. HiPER is a consortium of 26 institutions from 10 nations with strong links to programmes outside Europe.

The preparatory planning and design phase is due to last three years. The facility is expected to begin operations in the early 2020s. Construction costs alone are put at £622m (€800m).