Fusion Power: Testing Steel to Harness the Energy of Tomorrow

Nuclear fusion has the potential to revolutionise energy production around the world. It is non-polluting, safe, could generate four times more energy per kilogram of fuel than fission power and the fuel required is easily accessible and plentiful. Importantly, it has the potential to comfortably address our planet’s growing energy demands, which increase every year. 

But harnessing fusion power remains a challenge, and around the world many scientists and engineers are working hard to make the fusion power dream a reality. 

One obstacle is finding the right material to withstand the extreme conditions and huge forces placed on the components within future fusion power plants. That is where CERN’s expertise and facilities can help. 

CERN has partnered with German company Rolf Kind, which specialises in the production of forgings in high-alloy stainless steels, to find the right steel for the requirements of the fusion power plants of tomorrow. Rolf Kind collaborated with CERN’s Materials, Metrology and Non-Destructive Testing section to test their stainless steel at temperatures as low as 4K, or -269°C. In this way, the two partners are working together to overcome one significant hurdle on the path to harnessing fusion power. 

“Our colleagues at CERN are working with us in one of the world’s most modern laboratories with a wealth of technical expertise to find the right steel for the requirements of the fusion power plants of tomorrow,” said Markus Kind, the company’s commercial director. 

“We have the technical expertise in material selection and forging technology and at CERN the material can be tested exactly according to our specifications – a perfect symbiosis,” he added. 

The CERN-Rolf Kind partnership was extended in 2024 with the agreement of a second, two-year phase of collaboration. So far, Rolf Kind has been able to test one potential material at CERN, FXM-19, with results ruling it unsuitable for use inside a fusion reactor. 

Thanks to this testing, work has now begun on characterising an alternative material, with initial results showing a great deal of promise.