Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production


Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production , is a spherical tokamak concept proposed by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and funded by UK government. The project aims to produce net electricity from fusion on a timescale of 2040.
In September 2019 the United Kingdom announced a planned £200-million investment to produce a design for a fusion facility named the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production. The funding covers the initial five year concept design phase. Once this phase is complete, a second detailed engineering design phase will precede construction of the device, which should be operational by the early 2040s.

Plans

The planned UK facility would be based on a ‘tokamak’ design that uses magnetic fields to confine a plasma of heavy isotopes of hydrogen, tritium and deuterium, which fuse under extreme heat and pressure. STEP would be a spherical tokamak that holds the plasma in a cored-apple shape. UKAEA’s MAST Upgrade spherical tokamak device, due to start operation in late 2020, will heavily inform the STEP design.