UK Picks Dassault Systemes Software to Develop Fusion Energy Prototype Plant

   By Giulia Petroni 
 

The U.K. Atomic Energy Authority has chosen Dassault Systemes' software platform to develop a prototype fusion energy plant that aims to generate electricity from fusion and put it on the national grid.

The French software company said Wednesday that its so-called 3D experience platform is able to provide "a unified virtual environment and a single source of information through all phases of the plant's life cycle," overcoming inefficiencies caused by entrenched data.

The UKAEA plans to deliver a prototype plant through its Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production program, also known as STEP, starting with a concept design of a spherical tokamak--a device using a magnetic field to confine plasma and where the fusion reaction is set to take place--by 2024.

"One of the challenges we face is the development and management of huge amounts of engineering design data," said Chris Waldon, delivery director at STEP.

Fusion powers the sun and other stars, and has the potential to provide huge amounts of carbon-free energy and limited radioactivity. The reaction, which occurs when at least two light atomic nuclei merge to form a single heavier one, takes place in a state of matter called plasma and requires temperatures exceeding 100 million degrees Celsius.

Write to Giulia Petroni at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 17, 2023 02:17 ET (06:17 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.