Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Kyoto Fusioneering are working together to build a new fusion technology test facility called UNITY-3 in East Tennessee. The U.S. Department of Energy has committed funding for the project, and Kyoto Fusioneering is relocating its American headquarters to Tennessee to help construct and operate the facility. The goal is to create shared infrastructure that reduces risks for critical systems needed in commercial fusion power plants.
A breeding blanket is a vital part of a fusion reactor. It absorbs high-energy neutrons released during the fusion process, captures their energy as heat, and produces tritium, a rare form of hydrogen that serves as fuel for the reaction. Until now, no facility has been able to test commercial-scale breeding blanket designs under conditions that closely match those inside a working fusion reactor.
What the new facility will do
UNITY-3 will use a particle accelerator to generate neutrons with an energy of 14 megaelectronvolts, the same energy produced by a burning fusion plasma. This strong neutron source will allow researchers to evaluate different blanket designs in a realistic nuclear environment and to check the accuracy of computer models that predict how much tritium the blankets can produce. The facility will also include sensitive instruments that measure neutron energies and tritium production with high precision. These measurements will help train digital twins, which are detailed computer simulations of physical systems that can be updated with real data, and will support the development of technologies that allow fusion plants to generate their own fuel.
UNITY-3 forms part of a wider network of test facilities operated by Kyoto Fusioneering and partners. Earlier facilities already exist or are under construction in Japan and Canada. Officials from both organizations say the partnership combines Oak Ridge’s expertise in neutron science, materials, and computing with Kyoto Fusioneering’s knowledge of fusion systems. The result is expected to provide the global fusion community with a shared place to turn design assumptions into measured performance data.