A Massachusetts firm that's developing a demonstration model to show it can produce energy by nuclear fusion plans to build the world's first commercial nuclear fusion plant in Chesterfield County, with some help from the state and county.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems said the project is to be located next to Dominion Energy's Chesterfield power plant off Coxendale Road, where the utility also hopes to build a controversial gas-fired generating station. The new development is expected to generate about 400 megawatts of zero-emissions electricity, which it said is enough to power about 150,000 homes.
The company expects the plant to go online in the early 2030s. Virginia is providing a $1 million grant for the project, matched with a $1 million grant from Chesterfield County.
The company expects its Massachusetts demonstration plant, which is halfway completed, to begin producing energy in 2026.
When completed, Commonwealth Fusion expects it would be the first such commercial design that produces more power than it uses.
How the technology works
Nuclear fusion generates energy by forcing hydrogen atoms together until they form helium atoms; the same process that powers the sun.
So far, most efforts to replicate that on Earth require more energy going in than coming out.
But two years ago, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility generated a pulse of more heat energy than its lasers directed at a small target of heavy isotopes - a gain of energy equivalent to about 0.3 kilowatt-hours of electricity, or enough to power a lightbulb for most of a day.
Lawrence Livermore noted that the energy produced by the fusion reaction is far less than the energy required to operate the facility's 192 powerful laser beams themselves.
"The energy consumed by the NIF laser facility is typically 100 times larger" than the laser energy delivered to the target," the lab said in a Physical Review Letters article in February. That, in turn, is larger than the gain in energy between the energy directed at the hydrogen target and what fusion of the atoms yielded, which was on the order of about 1.5 times.
"Fusion is pretty hard, but it's not easy to get a project like this over the line," Bob Mumgaard, chief executive officer and co-founder of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, told a gathering of state and county officials at the Patrick Henry Building on Capitol Square.
A 'pioneering' step
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Mumgaard said the Chesterfield plant will represent an investment of multiple billions and create hundreds of jobs.
"In the early 2030s, all eyes will be on the Richmond region and more specifically Chesterfield County, Virginia, as the birthplace of commercial fusion energy," Mumgaard said.
Mumgaard has a doctorate in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he contributed to the design of several small superconducting tokamaks - machines that use high-powered magnets to hold a mix of gaseous ions, electrons and atoms in a doughnut shape. They are used for particle physics research. Fusion researchers say they are a central piece of equipment for fusion reactions.
The engineering needed for fusion reactions is cutting edge, said Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
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"We are here to celebrate not a project, but we are here to celebrate a pioneering, groundbreaking step to change the way we think about power generation ... This may be the last energy innovation that we might ever need," Youngkin said.
"When we launched the All American all the above energy and power plans in Virginia, I said that the core to our energy and power future is not a resource, it's not a plant, not wires, it's innovation. And we as Americans and Virginians have an abundance of the capacity to innovate," he added.
Youngkin, describing himself as a retired engineer, said fusion is the direct opposite of the fission process that's the heart of current nuclear power plants, such as Dominion Energy's Surry and North Anna stations, or the reactors that power the aircraft carriers and submarines built at Newport News Shipbuilding. While fusion energy comes from bringing the lightest atoms together to create slightly heavier ones, fission generates energy by splitting some of the heaviest, and radioactive, atoms.
He said fusion has been proved safe, and that fusion reactions emit no carbon-based compounds - the greenhouse gases that drive climate change.
Dominion Energy Virginia is helping by providing development and technical expertise as well as leasing the site.
"Commonwealth Fusion Systems is the clear industry leader in advancing the exciting energy potential of fusion," said Edward H. Baine, president of Dominion Energy Virginia.
Youngkin said the cost of plant would not be passed on to Dominion customers, since Commonwealth Fusion is interested in supplying power directly to large users.
Increased demand for power is being driven by electric vehicle usage and a proliferation of data centers, which last year consumed a quarter of electricity in Virginia, according to a Electric Power Research Institute report.
"This is a monumental day for Virginia's economy," said Barry DuVal, president and chief executive officer at the Virginia Chamber of Commerce. "Commonwealth Fusion Systems' decision to build this fusion power plant in Chesterfield County demonstrates that Virginia is a leader in fostering innovation and cutting-edge technology."
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a 10-year strategy to speed development of nuclear fusion energy, with a focus on closing gaps in the science and technology needed to operate a commercial plant. In October, it awarded a total of $49 million in funding for 19 projects at various national laboratories, focusing mainly on the materials used to contain fusion reactions and modeling those reactions.
Dave Ress (804) 649-6948
By the numbers Commonwealth Fusion Systems expects to generate 400 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 150,000 homes.Virginia is providing a $1 million grant.Chesterfield will match with a $1 million grant. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
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