SBRI: UKAEA Fusion industry challenges prototype development

Overview

This is a Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition funded by the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).

This funding programme will support the UK’s leadership in economic, sustainable, and scalable fusion energy.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to encourage innovation in the development of Lithium in an economic, sustainable, and scalable fusion energy fuel cycle.

Your project must evidence that initial feasibility work has been undertaken in line with the theme of this competition.

Your proposal must:

reduce the risk involved in the take up of new technologies
outline plans to accelerate time to market
be pre-commercial
explain the rationale for the solution and describe the expected impact
define how the proposed solution would enable and support the delivery of sustainable fusion power plants
demonstrate a clear plan for commercialisation with a route to market for affordable, developed solutions
describe how solutions can be tested in a representative or real world
explain how any potentially negative outcomes would be managed, such as on the environment or society
demonstrate how you will work with at least one potential future customer throughout your project
how export control and regulation will be addressed

Your solution must:

be based on sound fundamental technical principles
be innovative
be practical and deliverable
take affordability into consideration
demonstrate the potential for cost-effectiveness
integrate with existing systems where necessary
consider user experience throughout the design and development process

Preference will be given to applications which:

help the innovation be formally accepted for future use in a fusion plant environment, for example by obtaining relevant regulatory certificates
offer innovations which consider existing infrastructure and potential interfaces

Contracts will be given to successful applicants.

You must demonstrate a credible and practical route to market, so your application must include a plan to commercialise your results.

Specific Themes

Your project can focus on one or more of the following:

Isotopic Enrichment

Technologies that can enrich the proportion of the minor isotope Lithium-6.

Enrichment will be essential to the fuel sustainability of many fusion power designs and, where it is not essential, can add value by boosting Tritium production. This will enable the commissioning and re-start of other fusion power plants.

Lithium enrichment represents a front-end fuel cycle service that will be demanded by fusion reactor operators around the world.

Examples of performance measures that would constitute an improvement over existing Lithium enrichment technologies include:

product quality, for example, maximum enrichment level (percentage), purity and product form (metal or compound)
economics, for example, production rate, capital cost, energy and resource consumption or value of co-products
environmental and worker protection, for example, hazards, waste production, obstacles to licensing such as the Minamata Convention

Tritium Extraction

Technologies that can extract Tritium from a Lithium breeding material and make it available, fast and efficient enough to fuel the ongoing Deuterium-Tritium (DT) reaction.

Performance parameters relevant to a fusion energy plant’s fuel cycle system include:

rate of extraction
continuous operation
availability of recovered Tritium
energy cost

Conversion and Manufacturing

Technologies or techniques that can convert Lithium from the form available in existing supply chains into either:

a form suitable for an isotopic enrichment process
a form required by the Tritium breeding system of a fusion energy plant

Aspects relevant to a sustainable and competitive supply chain include:

raw material input forms for example, Lithium Chloride, Carbonate, Hydroxide
product output forms, for example, suitability for a variety of enrichment processes or breeding systems
potential to recycle Lithium, for example, use of recycled Lithium from other sectors in fusion, or recycling of Lithium after its use in a fusion energy plant

Prototype development and evaluation

This can include prototyping, demonstrating, piloting, testing and validation of new or improved products, processes or services in environments representative of real-life operating conditions. The primary objective is to make further technical improvements on products, processes or services that are not substantially set.

Eligibility

Your project must:

start by 1 October 2023
end by 31 March 2025
last between 6 to 18 months
have total costs of up to £1.5 million, inclusive of VAT

To lead a project, you can:

be an organisation of any size
work alone or with others from business, research organisations, research and technology organisations or the third sector as subcontractors

This competition will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian or Belarusian entity as lead or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian or Belarusian source.

Contracts will be awarded to a single legal entity only. However, if you can justify subcontracting components of the work, you can engage specialists or advisers. As a funding body UKAEA cannot be a subcontractor in your project. This work will still be the responsibility of the main contractor.

Exclusions

UKAEA will not fund projects that:

do not engage with potential future customers to understand needs
do not address how any potentially negative outcomes, including environmental or societal, would be managed
create the potential for international transfer of Lithium enrichment material or technology without addressing export control compliance
are not suitable for use within the UK fusion industry sector
duplicates existing innovation
are not commercially viable
are early stage feasibility studies
would directly duplicate other UK government or EU funded initiatives you have already been funded to deliver
include UKAEA as a subcontractor

Funding Costs

A total of up to £5.6 million, inclusive of VAT, is allocated to this competition.

This competition will award up to 4 contracts to develop a prototype and undertake field testing for up to 18 months. Up to £1.5 million, inclusive of VAT, will be allocated for each contract.

The contract is completed at the end of the competition, and the successful organisation is expected to pursue commercialisation of their solution.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

You must select whether you are VAT registered before entering your project costs.

VAT is the responsibility of the invoicing business. We will not provide any further advice and suggest you seek independent advice from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

VAT registered

If you select you are VAT registered, you must enter your project costs exclusive of VAT. As part of the application process VAT will be automatically calculated and added to your project cost total. Your total project costs inclusive of VAT must not exceed £1.5 million.

Not VAT registered

If you select you are not VAT registered, you must enter your project costs exclusive of VAT and no VAT will be added. You will not be able to increase total project costs to cover VAT later should you become VAT registered. Your total project costs must not exceed £1.5 million.

Research and development

Your application must have at least 50% of the contract value attributed directly and exclusively to R&D services, including solution exploration and design. R&D can also include prototyping and field-testing the product or service. This lets you incorporate the results of your exploration and design and demonstrate that you can produce in quantity to acceptable quality standards.

R&D does not include:

commercial development activities such as quantity production
supply to establish commercial viability or to recover R&D costs
integration, customisation or incremental adaptations and improvements to existing products or processes

Back

R&D Tax Credits

Grant Funding

Other Services

Insights

Events