Draft:Fusion Island

Fusion energy concept first proposed in 2005. and now moving towards development in the 2020s From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Fusion Island is a 2005 concept for the commercialization of fusion energy that has been boosted in the 2020s with, for example, worldwide interest in the use of hydrogen compatible (20k) cryogenics for future tokamak fusion energy generators. The STEP demonstration facility in the UK is, in the mid 2020s, being designed with approximately 20K cryogenics in mind[1] . Fusion Island differs from more orthodox fusion commercialization ideas as it is not associated with the generation of electricity for the grid. Similarly, as it does not involve grid electricity production or use, it stands apart from many hydrogen production ideas based upon what is becoming termed the "Hydricity Economy".

  • Comment: No. As before: not enough secondary sourcing on the specific topic, narrowly speaking. This is really expository writing with an infusion of original research/synthesis. Drmies (talk) 22:45, 23 February 2024 (UTC)
  • Comment: Wikipedia is the wrong place for an article like this. Wikipedia is a place where articles are on establised topics, it is not on possible future technologies. Please look carefully at what Wikipedia is not, and also not a crystal ball. If you trim down this by a factor of 10 (10% of the current length) and just state established facts it might have a chance. Ldm1954 (talk) 19:22, 2 January 2024 (UTC)



The term Fusion Island was first coined in 2005[2]. The Fusion Island concept posits an oil industry funded tokamak-based fusion energy facility dedicated to the production for distribution and sale of cryogenic liquid hydrogen[2]. Importantly, the same liquid hydrogen is also used to cool large tokamak magnets made from high temperature superconductor (HTS)[2]. In the mid 2020s there is an explosion of interest in fusion commercialization,[3] and within that space Fusion Island is just one example of a commercialization strategy.[4] It is a particular example of a fusion commercialization strategy based on the supply of process heat to industry[5]. The Fusion Island concept greatly reduces dependence on expensive liquid helium, instead it uses the cryogenic liquid hydrogen produced for sale[2]. Fusion example relies upon the ideas of hydrogen cryomagnetics. Fusion Island is an example of a compelling technology concept that has not yet been developed. As such it is similar, in conceptual status, to other bold prospective technology concepts in other sectors, such as the space elevator or Hyperloop. As of 2026, no Fusion Island is yet in operation.

Generic tokamak concept showing main magnetic coils in red (toroidal) and blue (poloidal). Source US DOE.
The oil industry has a history of operating island facilities - this example is a THUMS oil island near Long Beach, California.

Origins

The term Fusion Island was first coined in October 2005 by William Nuttall, Bartek Glowacki and Richard Clarke writing in the British magazine The Engineer..[2] The concept of Fusion Island was further explored for the UK Energy Research Centre at an April 2007 meeting hosted by Worcester College Oxford and the Culham Science Centre. The meeting had the title: Sustainable Hydrogen Production: A role for Fusion?[6] The Fusion Island concept was further elaborated in July 2008[7]. A 2025 commentary can be found in chapter 11 of the book Commercializing Fusion Energy - Second Edition[4]


In 2005 Nuttall et al. defined Fusion Island in the following terms:

"On 'Fusion Island', hydrogen would be:

  • The product sold commercially;
  • Potentially the cryogenic liquid used to cool the fusion reactor magnets;
  • The source of energy to fire-up the fusion machine; and
  • A link to an industrial sector that is willing and able to fund the high capital cost of a fusion system."[2]

It built upon an existing range of concepts for hydrogen production using fusion energy[8], but it was Fusion Island that first posited that the presence of a cryogenic liquid hydrogen product could facilitate operation of the tokamak itself. A Fusion Island would supply liquid hydrogen to global markets in a manner similar to the liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes of today. A graphical impression of the earliest form of the Fusion Island concept is available online.[9]

The UKERC meeting observed that in 2007: "... currently there was no business model for Hydrogen, neither was there one for fusion, nor for the coupling of Hydrogen to fusion - but the economies of scale concerned with these technologies were great."[6]

In the 2020s, however, the question of fusion as a source of commercial hydrogen production is attracting more attention.[3] Key technological enablers of the Fusion Island concept are becoming available and the pressure on the international oil industry to find low carbon alternative business models is growing.

In 2022 a Japanese fusion start-up, Kyoto Fusioneering, proposed a fusion cluster concept giving prominent emphasis to low-carbon hydrogen production and maritime distribution[10]

Role of the Oil Industry

Suiso Frontier prototype liquid hydrogen tanker in Kobe Shipyard, Japan, October 2020. Fusion Island's hydrogen could be supplied to global markets using similar technology.

The concept is that Fusion Island would be developed by an International Oil Company (IOC) perhaps in collaboration with an industrial gases company.[2]. Such companies include the necessary skills and competences but also such engineering propositions are well-matched to risk appetite of an IOC[7]. IOC stock valuations have long been shaped by a desire to see reserve replacement.[11] As a liquid fuel production facility, Fusion Island has the potential to support reserve replacement thinking.[7] In 2021 oil companies ENI and Equinor both invested in Commonwealth Fusion Systems.[12] Meanwhile Cenovus Energy has invested in Canadian fusion company General Fusion.[13]

An alternative source of low carbon process heat for IOC process heat applications is conventional nuclear fission energy.[14] For many industrial applications the safety case for Fusion Island can be expected to be simpler than for its fission equivalent - as discussed in Chapter 11 of reference[4].

Alternative usages

Use of term "Fusion Island" by First Light Fusion

In 2019 UK fusion company First Light Fusion started using the term fusion island in a different sense to that described above,[15] and elaborated in 2023.[16] This alternate use of the term is a variant of the established term "nuclear island" in conventional commercial nuclear fission based power plant design, where the plant can be said to be divided into the nuclear island, on its own basemat, with the electricity generating turbines generally being part of a separate balance of plant.

German Parliament perspective on "Fusion Island"

In December 2024 the German Parliament's Office for Technology Assessment published a report entitled On the way to a possible nuclear fusion power plant - knowledge gaps and research needs from the perspective of technology assessment.[17] The report observes: "It is currently unclear whether such a Fusion Island could be operated economically, but hydrogen will foreseeably become an energy source traded in large quantities worldwide."[18]This German parliamentary report introduces the idea that Fusion Island could be associated with seawater electrolysis and desalination. These are ideas in a spirit of a "Hydricity Economy" that extend the original Fusion Island proposition[17].

References

Related Articles

Wikiwand AI