Gauss Fusion and UKAEA sign MoU to advance work towards LIBRTI experiment

Gauss Fusion has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), establishing a framework for the two organisations to work together in relation to UKAEA’s Lithium Breeding Tritium Innovation (LIBRTI) programme.

LIBRTI provides a route for industry to test and demonstrate tritium breeder technologies – an important part of the pathway towards future fusion power plants.

The initial work between Gauss Fusion and UKAEA will focus on science and engineering de-risking towards a potential larger LIBRTI experiment involving Gauss Fusion’s HEXA™ tritium-breeding blanket technology.

HEXA™ is Gauss Fusion’s modular breeding blanket concept, designed to produce tritium from lithium while also extracting heat and shielding surrounding systems from neutron exposure. It forms part of Gauss Fusion’s wider work to develop and qualify the technologies required for future fusion power plants.

Dr Uwe Bau, CEO of Gauss Fusion, said:

“Future fusion power plants will need to breed enough tritium to replace what they consume. That makes the development and qualification of breeding-blanket technologies a critical engineering challenge. Working with UKAEA through this staged approach gives us an opportunity to de-risk HEXA™ progressively and build the evidence needed for the next stages of its development.”

Dr James Wade-Zhu, Lead – Experiments for LIBRTI, UKAEA, said:

“Tritium breeding technologies are critical to future commercial fusion power generation. LIBRTI is dedicated to supporting organisations seeking to develop, demonstrate, and optimise these systems at representative scales.

“Through this MoU, UKAEA will collaborate with Gauss to advance their HEXA™ technology and support their ambition to become a leading force in the global fusion industry.

“The LIBRTI team looks forward to working with the Gauss team in coming months, on the technical, materials and safety concepts which enable demonstration and testing of breeder blanket technology.”