Japan-based Kyoto Fusioneering has received grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and the state of Tennessee to construct a prototype fuel breeding device at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).
The device, named Unity-3, is being developed with ORNL to test a fuel cycle technology known as a breeding blanket. Breeding blankets are designed to harvest energy from a fusion reactor while also generating fresh fusion fuel.
One breeding blanket design involves liquid lithium, which absorbs heat and neutrons. As lithium atoms are bombarded with neutrons, they split into helium and tritium, an isotope of hydrogen essential for many reactor designs. The tritium is then separated and sent to the reactor, with heat extracted to generate power.
Unity-3 will test the performance of liquid lithium and other breeding blanket materials. Data from these experiments will be used by other fusion startups, including Realta Fusion, Thea Energy, Type One Energy, and Xcimer Energy, to design their reactors. Kyoto Fusioneering also stated it is moving its U.S. headquarters to Oak Ridge.