South Korea Moves Aggressively on Fusion Energy
Over at Nature, they are reporting on South Korea’s large investment into developing fusion energy. Together with the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), South Korea plans on constructing a demonstration fusion power plant by the 2030s. Nicknamed K-DEMO, the fusion power plant would be the first facility to generate electricity for commercial purposes. The plan is to generate 1 billion watts of power for several weeks, a goal that if realized, will surpass the internationally-backed ITER project. From the article:
In early 2012, the South Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced that developing technologies to build K-DEMO would be a priority for the next 10 years, establishing the know-how to permit the construction of a commercial fusion power plant between 2022 and 2036. The government also announced that it planned to invest about 1 trillion won (US$941 million) in the project. About 300 billion won of that spending has already been funded, according to a source within the ministry. The government expects the project to employ nearly 2,400 people in the first phase, which will last throughout 2016.
And in response to critiques that the project contains risk, Lee Gyung-Su, a Korean fusion official said:
“And risks always exist when it comes to a new finding in science, and the investment on the research and development has been made based on the estimation of such risks.”
Moreover, Lee adds, “we are willing to take risks, and need to innovate to survive”.
To read the full article, click here.
