Worlds First Fusion Reactor in 2040?

 Although I read otherwise there are considerable issue to start.   But that is long time to work at it.

The UK Government has unveiled ambitious plans to build the world's first working nuclear fusion reactor by as early as 2040.

By Christopher McFadden  InterestingEngineering

The UK Government has committed to operationalizing the world's first commercial nuclear fusion reactor by 2040. Once complete, the facility (which in theory could offer virtually infinite clean energy) will be constructed in West Burton, Nottinghamshire.

If successful, this would be very fitting for a nation that produced the world's first commercial nuclear fission reactor in the 1950s.

The announcement comes after the UK's Business secretary Jacob Rees Mogg disclosed the location at the UK Conservative Party Conference on Monday.

"The plant will be the first of its kind, built by 2040 and capable of putting energy on the grid,” he announced.  “In doing so, it will prove the commercial viability of fusion energy to the world," he added. World's first fusion reactor will be open in UK by 2040Approximate location of the new reactor.

For the STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) program to deliver the fusion energy plant, the government has pledged more than £220 million (€252 million). What's more, it will also not be constructed on the virgin ground and instead be built on the site of a to-be-decommissioned coal-fired power station.

Once completed, the project is projected to cost somewhere in the order of £10 billion ($11.42 billion). But, as anyone knows about publically-funded projects of this scale, they rarely come in below budget.

According to the government, the development of the program should also bring more high-tech firms to the UK and generate thousands of high-skilled jobs throughout building and operation.

With a tender anticipated for December, the government started looking for a construction partner for the project in August. Atkins has already been identified as the engineering partner for the project too.

World's first fusion reactor will be open in UK by 2040Nuclear fusion is the "Holy Grail" of energy production. Researchers, however, claim that significant obstacles must be addressed before the technology can be used. How will the plant work?

Theoretically, nuclear fusion could produce approximately four million times as much energy as coal, oil, or gas while producing no carbon emissions.

But a functional commercial plant will need to overcome several logistical challenges, not the least of which is heating significant amounts of gas to a temperature of 180 million degrees Fahrenheit (100 million degrees Celsius). .... '