Research Comms Podcast: Fusion energy: How to prepare the world for transformative technology
“Fusion energy is considered the Holy Grail, if attainable and if achievable.” Celestine Cheong on the UKAEA’s mission to pave the way for a fusion energy future.
Celestine Cheong is Head of External Communications at the UK Atomic Energy Authority. In this episode of Research Comms she talks about the work of UKAEA to push for the delivery of sustainable fusion energy, about the challenges of communicating science that is at times, very complex, and about managing public expectations around the development of technologies that have the potential to transform society.
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The following excerpt from the interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
What is fusion energy and why is it so important?
Fusion is the process that powers the stars, like the Sun. It's the reverse of nuclear fission where you split atoms apart. You fuse together two forms of atoms - deuterium and tritium - at extreme temperatures to create this plasma. When plasma is created, it generates another atom called helium and then large amounts of energy.
Fusion is important because it promises to deliver safe, sustainable, low carbon energy for generations to come. It could be transformative for energy security and important in the fight against climate change. Why? Because it is extremely fuel efficient. It creates many million times more energy per kilogram versus fossil fuels. And the fuel is found in seawater. So even in comparison to nuclear fission, the prediction is that it can produce even four times or maybe more than nuclear fission per kilogram. That's why it's so important. It's considered the Holy Grail, if attainable and if achievable.
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In your role as external communications, who do you tend to be talking to? Who needs to hear about this?
It could be anyone, from the ten to fifteen year old person who's really interested in science, to the decision-maker out there or potential investors. There's a range and we adopt different approaches in terms of speaking to them.
I'll give you one example: the UK's first prototype fusion power plant, which is to be built at West Burton in Nottinghamshire, when speaking to the local local residents there, how do we adapt our language? It depends on their interest and their understanding of fusion energy. West Burton A is a coal fired power station there, so they have some degree of understanding in terms of energy production.
But how does this new concept of having fusion energy where it's vastly cleaner, less waste and cleaner air - how does it all impact their living and their lives up there? It’s important we are communicating what that means, communicating how the process works. Can we keep seeing the end goal? That all has to be considered in terms of how we relate and of course the various channels that we use.
Nuclear energy is a topic that has had a certain stigma attached to it, and it’s had resistance from certain portions of the public over the years. How do you tread that line to have discussions with people about the future of this form of atomic energy?
In our role as science and energy communicators, our job is to inform, educate, raise awareness, and also increase wonder and inspire. It can help research, it can help future decision-making, political will, ethical thinking. What we try to do is turning complex stuff into everyday palatable language.
When it comes to stigma, fusion energy has been labeled under ‘scary scenario’ because the word nuclear itself comes with negative connotations. We've done some research on it. It's also one of the reasons why we've veered slowly away from using the word nuclear in front of fusion and called it ‘fusion energy’ instead, which is what a lot of the private companies have done. So we're all using the same language.
And even the word reactor, admittedly, is another one which is associated with nuclear fission. I would prefer to use the word ‘machine’ because it's less scary. And at the end of the day, they are machines. We're operating machines. So choosing language which has a more positive association will help to increase awareness and understanding across the world.
Research Comms is presented by Peter Barker, director of Orinoco Communications, a digital communications and content creation agency that specialises in helping to communicate research. Find out how we’ve helped research organisations like yours by taking a look at past projects…
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