UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and Commonwealth Fusion
Systems (CFS) have announced a new trans-Atlantic agreement to
advance commercial fusion energy.
The new five-year Collaboration Framework Agreement establishes
the terms under which a series of work projects between US-based
CFS, from Massachusetts, and UKAEA will support the development
of fusion energy and related technologies.
This agreement is the result of a shared mission of both
organisations to leverage innovative research and the speed of
the private sector to support the fastest path to low carbon
commercial fusion energy – based on the same processes that power
the sun and stars.
Prof. Ian Chapman, UKAEA CEO, said: “Achieving our shared
missions to deliver low carbon and sustainable fusion energy
involves working at the forefront of science, engineering, and
technology. This new collaboration agreement with CFS will help
push these developments and capabilities, drive innovation and
accelerate progress.
“Fusion presents an exciting opportunity for the UK and we’re
proud our ground-breaking work here continues to support economic
growth and attracts such leading international partners.”
Bob Mumgaard, CFS CEO, added: “CFS and UKAEA have a mutual
interest and strong belief that public-private collaborations
such as this represent a way to accelerate advances in commercial
fusion energy technology and support CFS’ plans to deliver
commercial fusion as quickly as possible.
“UKAEA is a leader in fusion energy research and CFS plans to
establish a UK presence as we leverage the combined skills and
talents of both organisations to develop the fastest path to
commercial fusion power on the grid.”
The scope of the collaboration could include:
- Operations teams sharing and learning best practices from
fusion experiments
- Access to fusion-adjacent technology facilities, including
robotics
- Collaboration on fuel cycle technologies, neutronics
modelling, systems integration models, advanced manufacturing,
diagnostics, remote handling and remote maintenance
- Collaborative work to identify and answer emerging plasma
physics questions
Last month, the UK government confirmed that future fusion energy
facilities will be regulated by the Environment Agency (EA) and
Health & Safety Executive (HSE). This provides clarity to
developers of prototype and demonstration fusion facilities
currently being planned, including the Spherical Tokamak for
Energy Production (STEP), UKAEA’s ambitious plan to accelerate
the delivery of sustainable fusion energy.
