SBRI Competition: Fusions Industry Challenges Cycle 2 Phase 1

A Pre-Commercial Procurement Activity under SBRI

Driving up fusion power plant performance with innovative heating and cooling systems.

Projects can focus on one or more of the following under this theme:

Microwave heating challenges:

high power, long pulse microwave sources with high electrical efficiency (greater than or equal to 55%)

development of special waveguide components, for example, diamond window assemblies, power monitors, expansion units, vacuum pumping access

improvements on the high voltage power supplies (50kV) for reduced voltage ripple in a compact assembly while maintaining high electrical efficiency (greater than or equal to 98%)

development of optical mirrors for evacuation of high thermal loads (approximately 5MW/m2)

high precision optical alignment assemblies for the free space to waveguide coupling

Neutral particle beam heating challenges:

negative ion beam system with high electrical efficiency (greater than 60%)

improved beam neutralisation efficiency, for example, Plasma or Laser Neutralisers

development of residual ion energy recovery.

improved negative ion source efficiency with caesium free operation

reduction in scale; improved ion optics, source uniformity and power handling to reduce size of components

development of actively cooled high heat flux components (approximately 5-10 MW/m2) with reactor relevant materials

development of fault tolerant 1-2MV fast switching power supply systems with high electrical efficiency

development of vacuum pumping systems with pumping speeds of millions of litres per second which allow continuous operation

Reactor high heat flux components:

jet impingement cooling technology transfer

sCO2 as coolant

diamond components for heat dispersion

novel discrete limiter designs, for example, vaporisation layers, speed of maintenance or increased heat flux performance

has context menu Additional information: apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/competition/1156/ove… ↗

A Pre-Commercial Procurement Activity under SBRI

Improving fusion power plant availability with novel fusion materials, technology, and manufacture

Projects can focus on one or more of the following under this theme:

fusion grade steels, for example, reduced activation Ferritic or Martensitic (RAFM) development, including, Castable Nanostructured Alloys (CNAs), and Oxide Dispersion Strengthened (ODS) steels

liquid Metal testing, for example Li, PbLi and Pb

scalable or large volume manufacture of tritium breeder materials

irradiation resilient joining materials and processes, for example, Tungsten based armour materials, CuCrZr or vacuum vessel ports including fused silica, Mo, MgAl2O4, ZnS, ZnSe

novel manufacture of multi-metre complex structures and components for fusion environments testing and evaluation

scalable or large volume manufacture of neutron shielding materials

manufacture of complex geometry components in refractory metals

additive manufacture for non-water coolant components

anti-corrosion coatings or novel application methods of corrosion and tritium barrier coatings for complex geometry components

development of on-line activation measurements

in situ health monitoring of fusion reactor components

novel inspection of interfaces in complex multi-material fusion components

radiation hard improvements for fusion equipment and plant

novel energy conversion technology

high temperature superconductors

composite materials such as silicon carbide fibre, reinforced silicon carbide

novel materials for radiation hard electronic components Additional information: apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/competition/1156/ove… ↗