Licube wants to be the fuel provider to the fusion power industry — see how at TechCrunch Disrupt
Startup Licube is developing technology to purify lithium-6, a critical component for producing tritium fuel in future fusion power plants. The company aims to address the global shortage of tritium by enabling on-site fuel production within reactors.
Why it matters
Securing a viable fuel supply chain is a major hurdle for the commercialization of fusion energy, which could revolutionize global power generation.
If fusion power pans out, and there are signs that it will , the world will need a lot more lithium.
That’s the bet behind Licube , a startup that has licensed technology from Hirosaki University in Japan, to purify lithium-6, the form of lithium that fusion plants need to make their own fuel, out of naturally occurring lithium.
The reason comes down to the fuel supply. A lot of things have to go right for fusion power to hit the grid, and one of them is the fuel. Most planned plants would run on a mix of two fuels, deuterium and tritium. Deuterium is easy to come by, but tritium is extremely rare in nature, and it’s an open secret in the fusion world that there isn’t enough of it to power every planned plant.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in