Japan and the UK are set to embark on a collaboration in the field of nuclear fusion, combining the UK’s expertise in remote-controlled robot technology with Japan’s general manufacturing capabilities to jointly develop this new technology.
According to a report by Nikkei News on June 16th, the collaboration between Japan and the UK aims to develop nuclear fusion, a promising new power generation technology that is yet to be realized, with plans to achieve a feasibility demonstration by 2030.
This Thursday, senior officials from Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, Hiroshi Masuko, will meet with Kerry McCarthy, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Clean Growth in the UK, in London to sign a Memorandum of Understanding. Industry groups from both countries also plan to draft a collaboration document.
The collaboration between Japan and the UK will see joint efforts in research and development, with a focus on shared facilities, human resources, and regulatory frameworks. Japan places particular value on the UK’s expertise in nuclear fusion reactor management within this collaboration.
The initiative for this collaboration follows Japan’s Fusion Energy Innovation Strategy, outlining its goal to demonstrate power generation by 2030.
Nuclear fusion generates energy by forcing atomic nuclei to merge, known as “dream energy” due to the abundance of its deuterium fuel in seawater and the lack of greenhouse gas emissions. However, regular maintenance is crucial due to the susceptibility of reactor walls to damage during the reaction process, making remote-controlled robots indispensable in this process.
The UK has been utilizing remote-operated robots to maintain its nuclear fusion research facilities, being recognized globally as a leader in the field. Japan and the UK have previously cooperated in deploying remote-controlled robots for the decommissioning operations at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.
In early March this year, during a visit by a delegation from the Fukushima Research, Education and Innovation Institute (F-REI) to the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) in Oxfordshire, Japan, F-REI Director Koetsu Yamazaki and UKAEA Executive Director Rob Buckingham signed a memorandum of cooperation in the field of robot research, focusing on research in robot technology and autonomous systems, including applications in nuclear decommissioning.
The UK Atomic Energy Authority represents the UK government in nuclear energy research and oversees the UK’s nuclear fusion projects. Its world-class robot center, RACE (Remote Applications in Challenging Environments), established in 2014, is dedicated to the technological development of deploying robots in extreme industrial environments, which pose significant challenges for human operations.
Recently, RACE successfully developed a new generation of robot technology for nuclear decommissioning operations through its collaboration on the LongOps project, jointly funded by the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, UK Research and Innovation, and Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) in Japan.
Established in April 2023 by the Japanese government under the Fukushima Reconstruction and Revitalization Special Measures Act, the Fukushima Research, Education and Innovation Institute aims to become a world-class hub for creative reconstruction. The institute focuses on research in five key areas: robot technology; agriculture, forestry, and fisheries; energy, radiation science, medicine, drug development, and radiation industrial applications; as well as the collection and dissemination of data and knowledge related to nuclear disaster.
(This article references relevant reports from “World Nuclear News” and Nikkei News)