Eni plans to build the first industrial fusion nuclear power plant in the early 1930s. This was guaranteed by the head of the fusion group, Francesca Ferrazza, at a hearing before the Senate Committee on the Environment. Eni participates in the Commonwealth Fusion System (CFS) project in the United States, a spinoff of the Boston MIT, with magnetic containment technology. The Italian group plans to help build the first Cfs-Sparc pilot plant in the mid-2020s. The first grid-connected industrial plant, Cfs-Arc, is planned for the early 2030s and new plants in the second half of the decade.
Cooperation with Italian universities
In our country, Eni has a 25% joint venture in the Dtt project (Divertor Tokamak Test) together with Enea (which has 70%) and with research institutions and universities (which have the remaining 5%). DTT studies the management of the enormous amount of heat from the hydrogen plasma inside the reactor (100 million degrees). Cooperation projects with CNR and various universities (Polititecnico di Milano, Bicocca, Tuscia and others) are ongoing on specific components. According to what was heard in the Commission today, there are 140 experimental fusion machines in the world, 3/4 public and 1/4 private. And the Fusion Industry Association with 80 members, of which 43 are private sector. There is talk of investments of over 6 billion dollars. “The Italian fusion supply chain is among the world leaders,” Ferrazza said, “and our research centers and universities are among the most advanced.” But for a merger, specific legislation is needed, as the United States and the United Kingdom have agreed, and as Germany and Japan are doing.”