Nuclear fusion firm bids to raise £400m

AN OXFORD start-up that claimed a major breakthrough in the quest for nuclear fusion is seeking £400m to fund the next stage of its research.

First Light Fusion made headlines in April when it said it had achieved the reaction using its method of firing projectiles at fuel.

It now needs cash to get to the next stage of development: a “gain” experiment, where more energy is produced than put in. This is an important step towards commercialisation.

First Light hopes to hit its funding target in the coming months, according to people close to the firm. Nick Hawker, the chief executive who founded the company in 2011, is understood to be gauging interest from investment houses and the wealthy. Sky News first reported the funding push.

Nuclear fusion melds atoms together, which releases energy. It is the same reaction that generates energy on the sun. This is separate from nuclear fis- sion, used in power plants, where atoms are split to create energy. Fission generates nuclear waste as a byproduct.

First Light, which was spun out of the University of Oxford, uses a simpler process to kick off the nuclear fusion reaction than rival ventures. Other programmes use magnetic fields, but Mr Hawker’s process instead sees a projectile fired at 20 times the speed of sound at a pellet containing tritium and deuterium, two isotopes of hydrogen.

The company is aiming to build its first power plant in the 2030s and expects to put its reactors in old power plants, taking advantage of their connections to the power grid. Fusion is considered the “holy grail” of nuclear power because, if managed successfully, it produces no toxic waste and can produce green electricityy.

First Light wants to repeat the reaction every 30 seconds to keep the cycle going, overcoming a key challenge in fusion of keeping the reactor alive.