Two Cambridge scientists have received an award for their work on fusion energy.
Two Cambridge scientists have received an award for their work on fusion energy.
Dr Bill Nuttall, of the Judge Business School and the Department of Engineering, and Dr Bartek Glowacki, Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, were recognised at the East of England Energy Group's (EEEGR) 3rd Annual Innovation Awards for their work on fusion energy.
Fusion energy, which is created by atomically combining two hydrogen isotopes at extremely high temperatures, is the holy grail of nuclear researchers. Working as an energy island, the 'Fusion Island' concept proposes a power plant built on an island, where fusion heat is used to water drawn from the sea into hydrogen and oxygen.
On Fusion Island, hydrogen is the coolant, the fuel, and the commercial product, sold in liquid form ready for transport by sea. A key innovation is that on the island the powerful superconducting magnets needed to maintain nuclear fusion might be cooled not by expensive and scarce liquid helium but by the liquid hydrogen produced there in abundance. Creating clean fusion energy could be a way of tackling key environmental challenges in the coming decades.
The third member of the team is Richard Clarke of UKAEA Culham, a European centre for energy research.
Dr Nuttall says: "We have been aware of EEEGR for years. We respect their work and when we heard of the Innovation Awards we thought - 'perhaps they will be as excited by the Fusion Island concept as we are' - so we submitted a bid. We are very glad we did, as we received a runners up award."
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