The UK Government has launched UK Industrial Fusion Solutions to oversee delivery of the country’s nuclear fusion programme and outlined plans to build a Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) plant.
On the visit to the future site of the UK’s first prototype fusion energy plant at West Burton, Nottinghamshire, Science Minister George Freeman urged energy companies and investors to recognise the vast potential fusion energy could have for the UK and internationally.
The Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) plant will be constructed by 2040 to demonstrate the ability to use fusion energy to generate electricity for the UK grid.
Magnetic confinement fusion, the approach to generate fusion that will be demonstrated in STEP, occurs when a mix of two forms of hydrogen are heated to extreme temperatures – 10 times hotter than the core of the sun – fuse together to create helium and release huge amounts of energy.
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