Helixos Plasma Power Framework: How to prepare your country for fusion energy
Helixos has released a thought-leadership piece on how countries can prepare for fusion energy. They ask, "when the fusion energy breakthrough finally happens, how do we ensure that countries are ready to deploy fusion energy?"
So, what have Helixos done and why is it important?
The seven pillars of the Helixos Plasma Power Framework ©Helixos
What have they done? What is the Plasma Power Framework?
The team at Helixos has conceived a framework that brings together the policy, regulatory, financial, workforce, and scientific aspects that will be needed for the commercialisation and deployment of fusion energy in a country. It is a starting point for conversations and action and helps both countries and industry to identify gaps in the fusion ecosystem.
There are seven pillars in the framework which list the main factors that can help to support the development of a fusion system within an area. The seven pillars are:
· Policy, strategy and governance
· Regulations, licensing, codes and standards
· Plant finance and economics
· Plant lifecycle and integration
· Industrial capability building
· Partnerships and collaboration
· Stakeholder engagement and education
The Plasma Power Framework is similar to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Milestones Approach for nuclear fission, which assists countries that are considering or planning their first nuclear power plant using three phases and three milestones. The Approach has been helpful to IAEA member states to understand their level of preparedness for building a nuclear power programme. Helixos recognised the value of the Milestones Approach and this partly led to the development of the Plasma Power Framework.
"A robust framework for a fusion power program—the Plasma Power Framework—is vital for ensuring that the efforts required for fusion energy deployment are systematically coordinated and efficiently managed," says Helixos.
Why is it important?
The overall aim of the Plasma Power Framework is to support the commercialisation of fusion power globally. Helixos believes that fusion is coming soon—private fusion companies are growing and nations are investing. But countries are at different stages of fusion development, so the Plasma Power Framework can help with learning. Plus, pioneering companies and countries can be benchmarked, which can allow others to follow those approaches.
Alex Borovskis, one of the co-founders of Helixos, describes why the Framework was created now: “We saw that right now there are many fusion nations already working on different aspects related to this—so developing strategies, working on regulatory regimes…—but we wanted to work on bringing this to a higher level to really see the whole picture of what’s required to get from 0 to 1.”
What’s next?
Helixos are promoting the use of their framework currently and also developing how best to use the framework.
Alex recommends all countries recognise and acknowledge the huge opportunity that development of fusion energy presents and then “think about where they fit into the holistic fusion picture.”
The use of the Framework is flexible and can be used in a ‘light touch’ way to structure a thought-exercise, or users can lean on the framework to guide a formal gap audit to identify where development activities should be focused.
Read the Helixos Plasma Power Framework.
And watch our interview with Helixos Co-founder Alex Borovskis to hear the inside story on the framework and where it came from.