The UK Government is committing £220M to the conceptual design of a
fusion power station – the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production
(STEP).
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy,
Rt Hon MP, announced the funding
package during a visit to the UK Atomic Energy Authority’s Culham
Science Centre HQ in Oxfordshire – the UK’s world-leading fusion
research laboratory.
Fusion offers a virtually limitless source of cleaner electricity
by copying the processes that power the Sun – the collision of
hydrogen atoms to release large amounts of energy. Researchers
around the globe are now developing fusion reactors that can turn
this into a commercial technology to help satisfy the world’s
ever-increasing demand for energy.
STEP will be an innovative plan for a commercially-viable fusion
power station – offering the realistic prospect of constructing a
powerplant by 2040. The investment will allow engineers and
scientists to produce a conceptual design for the reactor (known
as a ‘tokamak’) that will generate fusion energy and convert it
into electricity. UKAEA and partners from industry and academia
will pool their expertise to complete the design by 2024.
The STEP programme will create 300 jobs directly, with even more
in the UK fusion supply chain. In addition, the spin-outs from
the design work are expected to be enormous – both in terms of
synergies with other fusion powerplant design activities (such as
Europe’s ‘DEMO’ prototype power station) and other hi-tech
industries.
STEP builds on UKAEA’s expertise in developing so-called
‘spherical tokamaks’ – compact and efficient fusion devices that
could offer an economical route to commercial fusion power. The
new MAST Upgrade spherical tokamak experiment is due to start
operations at Culham early in 2020. Its work will play a key role
in the STEP design.
, Secretary of State for
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, said: “This is a bold
and ambitious investment in the energy technology of the future.
Nuclear fusion has the potential to be an unlimited clean, safe
and carbon-free energy source and we want the first commercially
viable machine to be in the U.K.
“This long-term investment will build on the UK’s scientific
leadership, driving advancements in materials science, plasma
physics and robotics to support new hi-tech jobs and exports.”
Professor Ian Chapman, CEO of the UK Atomic Energy Authority,
added: “The UK has a proud heritage of pioneering developments in
fusion research. This announcement demonstrates the UK
government’s commitment to translating that R&D leadership
into a working fusion reactor. We are excited to work with our
partners to take the next step towards a fusion-powered future.”
