World-leading engineering and science experts, including several South West Nuclear Hub members, have joined the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) on its mission to lead the delivery of sustainable fusion energy.
Hub members Norton Straw, IDOM and Nuclear AMRC are among the organisations who will form two multimillion-pound framework agreements to aid the development of safe, efficient, and low-carbon fusion energy.
A £4 million, four-year Engineering Embedded Resource Framework agreement with seven companies, Assystem, Atkins, IDOM, Morsons, NUVIA, EASL and Norton Straw Consultants, will cover fusion research, powerplant design, robotics, modelling, materials, and other specialist technology areas.
The second framework, a £3.5m Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) Manufacturing Support Services agreement, will push forward UKAEA’s plans to deliver the first prototype fusion energy plant in the UK.
Five lead companies – Ansaldo, Doosan Babcock, Frazer Nash, Nuclear AMRC and Rolls-Royce – will be supported on this programme by more than 25 collaborators from industry, research and technical organisations, The High Value Manufacturing Catapult (a group of manufacturing research centres in the United Kingdom), and academia until March 2024.
The frameworks will allow companies to embed their own specialists in project roles or add experience and expertise to UKAEA research into the development of fusion energy.
STEP fusion siting process
STEP is a UKAEA programme that will demonstrate the ability to generate net electricity from fusion through its prototype power plant. It will also determine how the plant will be maintained through its operational life, and demonstrate its potential to recycle its fuel.
Five sites have been shortlisted across the UK, including Severn Edge in the South West region. A decision on the final location will be made by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy around the end of 2022.
Main image credit: UK Atomic Energy Authority