Jo Smith

Washington DC – US department of energy has trailed an announcement later today (Tuesday), from energy secretary Jennifer Granholm and under-secretary for nuclear security Jill Hruby to announce “a major scientific breakthrough” at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Physicists have since the 1950s sought to harness the fusion reaction that powers the sun, but this is the first time they had been able to produce more energy from the reaction than it consumes. The figures to be released later today reach a milestone known as net energy gain or target gain, which would “derisk” investment in fusion to achieve a reliable, abundant net-zero alternative to fossil fuels and conventional nuclear energy.

Boosters of nuclear fusion are already claiming that this announcement puts commercial fusion production less than 10 years away. There are fears it will provide an excuse for governments and industry to put current Net-zero plans on hold. Even on the most optimistic assumptions about climate change that would be too late to stop catastrophic warming.

Physicist Daniel Jassaby, who worked at the Princeton plasma lab, said a fusion reactor would be “far from perfect and in some ways close to the opposite”.

Writing in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists he said the process of nuclear fusion has the potential to produce radiation damage and radioactive waste – contrary to claims it is clean and safe.

He also says the “parasitic drain” of power needed to fuel fusion reactors renders means that they could “consume a good chunk of the very power that they produce”.

Fusion reactors have to be supplied with fuel made from fission reactors which he said implies a “perpetual dependence” on them.

And there is the potential for nuclear weapons proliferation through the “clandestine” production of plutonium-239.

In total there have been 21 commercial start-ups in fusion energy over the last five years, with a cascade of private funding over recent months following successes by the Livermore lab in 2021.

The Fusion Industry Association in Washington says there are currently five private companies pursuing inertial fusion of different forms, including the UK’s First Light, Focused Energy and Xcimer Energy in the US, and Marvel Fusion and XB11 in Germany.

“The advances being made point to market viability much sooner than expected, within the next 10 years,” said Todd Ditmire, co-founder of Focused Energy.

The $3.5bn National Ignition Facility at Livermore was primarily designed to test nuclear weapons by simulating explosions but has since been used to advance fusion energy research.

Achieving ignition involved collaborators at DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and Nevada National Security Site; General Atomics; academic institutions, including the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California, Berkeley, and Princeton University; international partners, including the United Kingdom’s Atomic Weapons Establishment and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission.…

European countries facing energy shortages will be bidding against each other for scarce energy supplies at times of peak demand this winter.

Leadership failure by the EU Directorate means there is no system to “share the pain” between countries when the Ukraine-led energy shortage bites. Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo has warned Europe could face up to 10 difficult winters as a result of the standoff.

The UK government is considering a “revenue cap” on electricity generators in line with a similar move by the European Union. The UK budget announcement this week will contain a tax of 40 per cent on the “excess returns” produced by the sector above a certain price per megawatt hour, according to people close to the discussions. That threshold has not yet been decided. Energy prices for a typical UK family will have tripled between 2021 and 2023

The head of France’s electricity grid warned yesterday that his country is at risk of electricity shortages this winter, as problems with its nuclear power stations mount. Xavier Piechaczyk, president of the Reseau Transport d’Electricite (RTE), said it is in a state of “state of particular vigilance”,  in a warning that also raises questions for Britain’s power supplies this winter.

National Grid in the UK is hoping to be able to import power at times of peak demand if gas shortages mean not enough electricity is being generated domestically but it will be competing with every other energy provider on the continent to do so.

France typically exports electricity to other countries but is less able to do so given half of its nuclear power stations, which are owned and run by EDF, are currently offline, either for maintenance or as a result of corrosion problems. The widespread shutdowns add to the strain on the energy system caused by gas shortages, creating the risk that Britain and Germany will struggle to meet needs at peak times this winter. National Grid has warned there could be blackouts in the UK.

RTE is publishing a forecast of electricity supplies up to four days in advance, known as Ecowatt, to try and help manage the system. If supplies are looking tight, it will launch a “red alert” calling on users to cut consumption.

Early last week, French power prices for January surged above €1,000 per megawatt hour after EDF cut its electricity output for the fourth time this year. Prices have since fallen back, though remain far higher than in neighbouring countries.

Mr Piechaczyk said he was taking a “cautious” approach to nuclear plant availability in RTE’s forecasts, Bloomberg reported, given the risk of maintenance taking longer than planned.

France is one of several countries that trades electricity with Britain, helping balance out supplies on both sides. In its winter outlook published in October, Britain’s National Grid warned it may have to impose rolling power cuts …

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While some of the world’s wealthiest reserve themselves “bargain” apartments in central London for up to £22.5 million, other realty agents representing large landowners say they have been flooded with enquiries from the Middle East and Asia’s wealthiest seeking an investment that can serve as both a bolt-hole from the raging pandemic and a long-term investment.

Mansions and apartments in ultra-desirable London locations like Islington, Kensington and Notting Hill are being shown remotely by agents via 360-degree online tours, allowing prospective buyers to view the property without leaving their home.

Among the properties currently available to view include a six-bedroom Belgravia mansion, on the market with Beauchamp Estates for £22.5million, and apartments in Borough, south London, from Galliard Homes, which are available from £1.3million.

Jeremy Gee, managing director of Beauchamp Estates received interest from buyers from the UK, Middle East and Far East who are looking for a secure investment amid the ongoing stock market crisis. The same is true in the more rarified world of private islands, and while some of these idylls sell for up to US$100 million, others go for as little as US$55,000, a fraction of the cost of the average Hong Kong apartment.

Edward de Mallet Morgan, a Partner with Knight Frank’s International Super-Prime Sales Team in London who specialises in private-island sales, said there had been a clear uptick in interest since the first reported coronavirus cases emerged in Wuhan, China, last year.

“For many who are already interested, the current world situation has meant that their resolve, intention and motivation to find a safe and protected haven for themselves and their families has only increased,” he said.

“As well as a financial investment, a private island would certainly be an investment in health and well-being and in very special family time. For some buyers, this is the key to real wealth – health and happiness and the family.

“For Asian buyers, there seems to be a driver, not only for the best and most beautiful, but to acquire such properties in an environment which is unpolluted and as pure as possible.”

While the coronavirus has spurred buyers to look all over the world, there is particular curiosity about parts of the Americas.

“There’s been a definite uptick of interest in freehold islands in recent months, especially in the Caribbean and Central America,” said Chris Krolow, CEO of Ontario-based Private Islands Inc and the owner of Gladden Private Island, a bonsai resort on the Barrier Reef in Belize that rents for US$3,695 per night.

“Asian buyers are careful investors, looking for a hideaway for their own use as well as somewhere that will bring in money at a later date, whether they develop it or resell it. And a private island is a definite ego trip too.”

Krolow’s company lists nearly 700 properties for sale, ranging from the 2.5-hectare Half Island in Nova Scotia, …