The UK has signed an agreement with the US to work together on nuclear fusion after being finally rejected from a rival EU programme as a result of Brexit.
The partnership with the US was announced in Washington by Andrew Bowie, Britain’s minister for nuclear and networks.
It means the two countries will share facilities, fund research and build shared supply chains for the complex fuels and other materials needed to achieve fusion.
Mr Bowie said the UK’s ambition was to have a commercial fusion reactor “grid-ready” by 2040.
He said: “The UK and the US are world-leaders in this technology, and pooling our resources will unlock new private sector investment. This bold new partnership will help turn our fusion ambitions into reality.”
David Turk, deputy undersecretary at the US Department for Energy, said America looked forward to working with the UK “to advance fusion energy to help achieve our countries’ shared goal of ending the climate crisis”.
Fusion works by heating hydrogen atoms to extreme temperatures till they fuse, releasing vast amounts of energy. The process was harnessed 70 years ago with the development of the hydrogen bomb. If it could be controlled then, in theory, it could produce an almost unlimited supply of clean electricity.
In practice, however, that has so far proved impossible. This is because the temperatures needed to start fusion are up to 15 times hotter than the sun – so no known material can contain it. Fusion reactions can only work if they are contained within powerful magnetic fields.
The UK was once one of the lead nations in the ITER fusion project at Cadarache in France but was thrown out when it left the EU.
The EU told the 60-odd UK scientists leading the project that they would have to adopt French nationality to retain their jobs. Most did so – decimating the UK fusion research community.
It will suffer another blow shortly with the closure of the Jet fusion experiment at Culham in Oxfordshire at the end of the year, after 40 years of research.
Recent attempts to rejoin ITER foundered a few weeks ago.
British fusion research now centres on plans for a new tokamak, as fusion reactors are known, with the UK Atomic Energy Authority due to publish designs next year.
It suggests the reactor will be connected to the National Grid and producing net energy by 2040 – potentially putting the UK well ahead of ITER.
This is good news, although the timeline sounds overly ambitious.
>The UK was once one of the lead nations in the ITER fusion project at Cadarache in France but was thrown out when it left the EU. The EU told the 60-odd UK scientists leading the project that they would have to adopt French nationality to retain their jobs. Most did so – decimating the UK fusion research community.
With France being the only country in the EU taking nuclear seriously at present, it’s good that UK is partnering with the US on this. There is/was no point in waiting around for ITER.
Seems like a bit of a UK whine and typical anti EU rant though.
The EU and EURATOM, the USA, India, Japan, China, Russia and the U.S. are all full members of ITER and Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan and Thailand are all partners in it.
It is *not* an EU project. It’s an international collaboration that spans several continents.
The U.K. decided to unilaterally leave EURATOM and the EU though which it had been a participant in ITER. I’m sure it could have negotiated independent access to ITER but chose not to, it was also welcome to remain in EURATOM but chose not to, so it’s obviously been a snubbed and how dare the EU etc etc etc
They wanted to continue to access EURATOM, without being a member of it, and I mean let’s be realistic, it’s an area of research that is highly sensitive commercially, in terms of security and all sorts of stuff. Switzerland for example is a full member of it without being in the EU.
It really gets a bit boring and petty – the same tabloid a Brexit garbage pumped out over and over. Spin, spin and more spin.
UK and Swiss citizen’s unacceptable but Russian and Chinese citizens are fine… Yet more toxic bullshit from the EU, another reminder of why it was probably not a good idea to vote to join the EU in 2016. The EU is an adversary not an ally to us.
yeah, the EU is not able to partake in military projects. It never was. Every project they do ends like this. All of their military infrastructure is going to Ukraine right now, and that wasn’t much to begin with.
I would highly appreciate if we could avoid using the word nuclear strike in the headline, if it just involves a deal
*The UK was once one of the lead nations in the ITER fusion project at Cadarache in France but was thrown out when it left the EU. The EU told the 60-odd UK scientists leading the project that they would have to adopt French nationality to retain their jobs. Most did so – decimating the UK fusion research community.*
Bullhsit.
The UK wasn’t thrown out. It’s the UK that left the EU and rejected the proposals to remain member of EU agencies like EUROATOM.
The Torygraph just can’t help themselves to lie and always play the victim.
UK:
Voluntarily leaves Euratom.
Torygraph:
We have been snubbed! Thrown out! The disgrace!
Just the usual UK wanting benefits without paying or obligations.
Nothing new.
Does this rag of a paper ever just post a headline without stooping to politicking?
Good news, BREXIT Britain open for business.
Weird phrasing considering that the U.S. is also a huge ITER partner, having contributed billions of dollars and has been sharing research for more than a decade.
It’s getting exhausting, this country was so great, not the best in the world, but great, it’s still pretty decent, but it’s just one long slow bleed. I’m from the South East and from 2008-2022, so excluding the big real terms drop this year, wages have fallen 9%. 14 years, over half of my life, to decline by essentially a tenth.
Anecdotally something similar seems to apply across a number of areas, there’s no catastrophic bomb going off, just a small erosion year after year. It’s such a shame to watch, the only thing that has helped give me some needed perspective at least, is my girlfriend coming here and pointing out how many brilliant things we still enjoy.
The patient that is Britain isn’t bleeding out, yet, but it is bleeding nonetheless, constantly.
Stupid telegraph article but this isn’t a win for Europe
Very sad to see what has become of the UK.
We love you UK. You should row your island closer to North America where your close friends are.
Unsurprising partnership. Always happy to see cooperation with the Brits.
I had to look this up but it seems to have been in the brexit agreement and they couldn’t negotiate the rules/roles and stuff.
Bureaucracy has slowed the EU project right down, but hopefully it’ll pick up soon. Problem is US tech is far less regulated which normally results in faster development, potentially dangerous but hasn’t yet caused (much) issue. UK does well in this sector, so it could get some results.
The tokamak is a technological dead end anyway. They practically require giant monumentally expensive devices to even have a hope of break even power.
I think it’s much more likely we’ll see FRC type reactors achieve success years (possibly decades) before the DEMO successor to the ITER even comes on line.
21 comments
The UK has signed an agreement with the US to work together on nuclear fusion after being finally rejected from a rival EU programme as a result of Brexit.
The partnership with the US was announced in Washington by Andrew Bowie, Britain’s minister for nuclear and networks.
It means the two countries will share facilities, fund research and build shared supply chains for the complex fuels and other materials needed to achieve fusion.
Mr Bowie said the UK’s ambition was to have a commercial fusion reactor “grid-ready” by 2040.
He said: “The UK and the US are world-leaders in this technology, and pooling our resources will unlock new private sector investment. This bold new partnership will help turn our fusion ambitions into reality.”
David Turk, deputy undersecretary at the US Department for Energy, said America looked forward to working with the UK “to advance fusion energy to help achieve our countries’ shared goal of ending the climate crisis”.
Fusion works by heating hydrogen atoms to extreme temperatures till they fuse, releasing vast amounts of energy. The process was harnessed 70 years ago with the development of the hydrogen bomb. If it could be controlled then, in theory, it could produce an almost unlimited supply of clean electricity.
In practice, however, that has so far proved impossible. This is because the temperatures needed to start fusion are up to 15 times hotter than the sun – so no known material can contain it. Fusion reactions can only work if they are contained within powerful magnetic fields.
The UK was once one of the lead nations in the ITER fusion project at Cadarache in France but was thrown out when it left the EU.
The EU told the 60-odd UK scientists leading the project that they would have to adopt French nationality to retain their jobs. Most did so – decimating the UK fusion research community.
It will suffer another blow shortly with the closure of the Jet fusion experiment at Culham in Oxfordshire at the end of the year, after 40 years of research.
Recent attempts to rejoin ITER foundered a few weeks ago.
British fusion research now centres on plans for a new tokamak, as fusion reactors are known, with the UK Atomic Energy Authority due to publish designs next year.
It suggests the reactor will be connected to the National Grid and producing net energy by 2040 – potentially putting the UK well ahead of ITER.
This is good news, although the timeline sounds overly ambitious.
>The UK was once one of the lead nations in the ITER fusion project at Cadarache in France but was thrown out when it left the EU. The EU told the 60-odd UK scientists leading the project that they would have to adopt French nationality to retain their jobs. Most did so – decimating the UK fusion research community.
With France being the only country in the EU taking nuclear seriously at present, it’s good that UK is partnering with the US on this. There is/was no point in waiting around for ITER.
Seems like a bit of a UK whine and typical anti EU rant though.
The EU and EURATOM, the USA, India, Japan, China, Russia and the U.S. are all full members of ITER and Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan and Thailand are all partners in it.
It is *not* an EU project. It’s an international collaboration that spans several continents.
The U.K. decided to unilaterally leave EURATOM and the EU though which it had been a participant in ITER. I’m sure it could have negotiated independent access to ITER but chose not to, it was also welcome to remain in EURATOM but chose not to, so it’s obviously been a snubbed and how dare the EU etc etc etc
They wanted to continue to access EURATOM, without being a member of it, and I mean let’s be realistic, it’s an area of research that is highly sensitive commercially, in terms of security and all sorts of stuff. Switzerland for example is a full member of it without being in the EU.
It really gets a bit boring and petty – the same tabloid a Brexit garbage pumped out over and over. Spin, spin and more spin.
UK and Swiss citizen’s unacceptable but Russian and Chinese citizens are fine… Yet more toxic bullshit from the EU, another reminder of why it was probably not a good idea to vote to join the EU in 2016. The EU is an adversary not an ally to us.
yeah, the EU is not able to partake in military projects. It never was. Every project they do ends like this. All of their military infrastructure is going to Ukraine right now, and that wasn’t much to begin with.
I would highly appreciate if we could avoid using the word nuclear strike in the headline, if it just involves a deal
*The UK was once one of the lead nations in the ITER fusion project at Cadarache in France but was thrown out when it left the EU. The EU told the 60-odd UK scientists leading the project that they would have to adopt French nationality to retain their jobs. Most did so – decimating the UK fusion research community.*
Bullhsit.
The UK wasn’t thrown out. It’s the UK that left the EU and rejected the proposals to remain member of EU agencies like EUROATOM.
The Torygraph just can’t help themselves to lie and always play the victim.
UK:
Voluntarily leaves Euratom.
Torygraph:
We have been snubbed! Thrown out! The disgrace!
Just the usual UK wanting benefits without paying or obligations.
Nothing new.
Does this rag of a paper ever just post a headline without stooping to politicking?
Good news, BREXIT Britain open for business.
Weird phrasing considering that the U.S. is also a huge ITER partner, having contributed billions of dollars and has been sharing research for more than a decade.
It’s getting exhausting, this country was so great, not the best in the world, but great, it’s still pretty decent, but it’s just one long slow bleed. I’m from the South East and from 2008-2022, so excluding the big real terms drop this year, wages have fallen 9%. 14 years, over half of my life, to decline by essentially a tenth.
Anecdotally something similar seems to apply across a number of areas, there’s no catastrophic bomb going off, just a small erosion year after year. It’s such a shame to watch, the only thing that has helped give me some needed perspective at least, is my girlfriend coming here and pointing out how many brilliant things we still enjoy.
The patient that is Britain isn’t bleeding out, yet, but it is bleeding nonetheless, constantly.
Stupid telegraph article but this isn’t a win for Europe
Very sad to see what has become of the UK.
We love you UK. You should row your island closer to North America where your close friends are.
Unsurprising partnership. Always happy to see cooperation with the Brits.
I had to look this up but it seems to have been in the brexit agreement and they couldn’t negotiate the rules/roles and stuff.
[https://world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/UK-and-EU-continue-talks-amid-Euratom-impasse](https://world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/UK-and-EU-continue-talks-amid-Euratom-impasse)
That sucks, but oh well.
Bureaucracy has slowed the EU project right down, but hopefully it’ll pick up soon. Problem is US tech is far less regulated which normally results in faster development, potentially dangerous but hasn’t yet caused (much) issue. UK does well in this sector, so it could get some results.
The tokamak is a technological dead end anyway. They practically require giant monumentally expensive devices to even have a hope of break even power.
I think it’s much more likely we’ll see FRC type reactors achieve success years (possibly decades) before the DEMO successor to the ITER even comes on line.