Europe’s DEMO will be the next step to follow JET and ITER – a proposed grid-connected fusion device that will demonstrate safe and consistent generation of electricity. In order to keep costs down and maximise the amount of electricity that can be generated, plant down-time has to be minimised. As a result, remote maintenance is ‘device-defining’ for a fusion power plant, strongly influencing the architecture of the plant.
UKAEA’s centre for Remote Applications in Challenging Environments (RACE) is the lead laboratory for DEMO’s remote handling, integrating technologies that have been developed under EUROfusion in the UK and a number of other European countries. Where the remote maintenance strategy requires novel solutions, RACE leads the development of the technologies to meet the challenges. For example, our Model-based Advanced Control Systems are designed to minimise oscillation of the large, flexible payloads, to maximise positional accuracy.
To learn more about DEMO, please see the EUROfusion website.
Working at RACE is about solving some of the most difficult technical challenges faced by humans. The possibility of realising something that was once considered impossible is really exciting.
