Nuclear fusion, the dream of a clean, sustainable, and inexhaustible source of energy, may be close to practical feasibility. Since a few years, investors are pumping billions into start-up companies who claim that with the present science and technology basis, they can develop a fusion power plant within a decade. Assuming that a demonstration reactor will not be long in coming, we want to position the Netherlands as pioneer in this field by hosting (one of) the first commercial fusion power plant(s) in Europe. This is a very real case: a large consortium of European Industries who intend to build a fusion power plant have placed a contract with Technical University Munich to identify possible EU sites, and they are very interested in the Netherlands as host country.
This honors track aims at creating a concrete plan to prepare the Netherlands for the role of hosting a fusion power plant. Such a plan entails much more than selecting a particular reactor technology – in fact the companies will do that. Rather, the Honors team focusses on the relation between the technology and the environment: societal impact and acceptance, impact for industry (the end-user of the energy as well as the supply chain for the construction of the high-tech project), political support and integration in the NetZero2050 strategy, use of space/integration in the landscape, number and type of jobs created, and the training and education plan to achieve that work force, and last but not least: the financial aspects, including the possible collaboration with private parties who want to invest in this venture. The TU/e, home of the only Dutch and internationally leading MSc-program on Nuclear Fusion, is the only Dutch University where such a plan can be developed. We have all the expertise, the network, and the most importantly, the interdisciplinary collection of bright students. Let’s go for it!
A concrete proposal for the first nuclear fusion power plant in the Netherlands.
Goals
The students in this track will learn
- to develop an integral approach to the realization of a highly technological, multi-billion Euro project with important societal implications
- to reach out to a variety of external parties, including politicians, companies, investors, and the public
- to collect and integrate diverse information
- to work in small teams on concrete challenges, within 6 week ‘sprints’ leading to well-defined deliverables
- to effectively communicate their findings within the honors team and to the outside
Want to know more? Contact Niek Lopes Cardozo, n.j.lopes.cardozo@tue.nl.