Launch of HiPER Project Heralds New Era of Laser Science and Energy Research

A new international research project which could one day lead to a new source of safe, abundant clean energy for Earth was launched today by scientists, engineers and Ministers from across Europe, at a special event and press conference at the Science Museum in London.

Today's launch event marks the start of a three year planning and preparatory phase of the European High Power Energy Research Facility (HiPER) project. This is the first step towards HiPER's long term goal, which is to facilitate the technological and scientific advances necessary to make nuclear fusion, which powers the sun, a possible source of energy in the future.

The initial three year preparatory phase of the project will involve partners from across 10 European Community countries and from over 20 organisations, including Imperial College London. The three year preparatory phase will allow the partner organisations to focus on planning, designing and overcoming the technical and scientific hurdles necessary for a sustainable fusion-powered energy plant which scientists hope could be built in the future.

Fusion power could provide the planet with a long term solution to its increasing demand for an energy source which does not rely on fossil fuels. The fuel for fusion power would be readily available atoms found in sea water, and the process would create very little radioactive waste – far less than a conventional nuclear power station which uses nuclear fission, not fusion, to create energy.

In the long run, the HiPER project envisages that fusion power could be produced by squeezing atoms together under enormous pressures and temperatures generated by focussing high-power laser beams onto small targets, potentially releasing vast amounts of energy.

The 'proof of principle' of laser fusion is anticipated at the turn of the decade - on two very large scale lasers currently nearing completion in California (NIF) and Bordeaux (Laser Megajoule). This marks the culmination of over 50 years of research. HiPER will take this scientific demonstration forwards by establishing a credible route to a laser fusion power plant as a future energy source. The HiPER laser will also have a major impact on a wide range of fundamental science topics – enabling researchers to study some of the most extreme conditions in the universe, reaching temperatures and pressures only otherwise found at the centre of the Sun, or in an exploding supernova.

Imperial College researchers are closely involved with the HiPER project and the College is one of the European partner organisations involved. As HiPER progresses over the coming years, physicists and engineers from Imperial will use their expertise in diverse fields from laser science to robotics to play a leading role in the UK's effort to get fusion power off the ground.

Professor John Wood, Imperial's International Relations Advisor, is Chair of the European Research Area Advisory Board and Chair of the HiPER international Steering Committee. He said: "HiPER is one of the most significant European infrastructure projects and I'm delighted that we're able to take it forward to the important planning phase."

Imperial's Professor John Wood marked the launch of the HiPER project by speaking at a press conference at the Science Museum today, alongside Professor Mike Dunne, lead for the HiPER project and Director of Photon Science at STFC, as well as representatives from several member states.