First Light Fusion is the world’s leading privately funded Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) company. It spun out from the University of Oxford in 2011.
Its operations are diverse, and environmental considerations are paramount. Striving to create a new source of clean energy, the team naturally care about the impact of their work on the environment.
First Light has been collaborating with Auditel since 2022 to understand and manage its carbon footprint. Following a suitable framework it now produces annual carbon footprint reports, tracking emissions and guiding reduction efforts.
The company has grown to include an incredibly talented and motivated team of around 100 people and is supported by world renowned advisors. Its focus is on developing groundbreaking targets for IFE: the small consumable assembly which will contain the ‘fuel’, such as hydrogen, and will be driven to high compression, fusion, and energy gain. A future reactor will repeat this process to deliver continuous heat or energy which is clean and safe.
First Light targets can work with lower power and simpler IFE drivers, substantially reducing cost and technology risk in this groundbreaking approach to addressing our future energy demands.
Target designs rely on world leading in-house physics simulation codes and high-power computing capability. This is accompanied by laboratory facilities including high velocity gas guns and mega-joule scale pulsed power machines for electromagnetic shock delivery. It maintains a high precision workshop capable of manufacturing experimental fusion targets using the latest micro-machining techniques. A suite of experimental diagnostics has been established to support cutting-edge high-energy density physics experiments. First Light also collaborates closely with specialist technology suppliers and national laboratories across the world.
These key resources have allowed the company to validate its physics simulation codes against experimental results, and to demonstrate a world first fusion result in 2021.
First Light is building technology collaborations on the journey to fusion energy. It also welcomes commercial opportunities where its target amplifier technology and experimental facilities can benefit others in the field of high energy shock physics.
Ryan Ramsey, COO, says “Fusion power is the last power the world will need. It will fill the gap in clean baseload energy, eradicate fuel poverty, and provide energy security. This will take some time. On that journey, First Light Fusion uses its Environmental, Social, and Governance responsibilities and initiatives to improve in the shorter term. As with everything we do, you don’t know where you are on the journey unless you measure. This allows us to hone our strategy and create impact.”
