Establishing a Platform for UK Fusion Collaboration and Leadership
The Fusion Industry Taskforce (FIT) was launched formally this month at IMechE (Institution of Mechanical Engineers) in the heart of Westminster to a diverse audience of UK fusion stakeholders – fusion companies and the engineering supply chain, academia, as well as professional organisations and representatives from the UK Government.
By bringing together the UK fusion industry to speak with one consistent, independent voice to Government, FIT aims to shape fusion policy by establishing a clear line of dialogue into key departments – the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the Department for Business and Trade, HM Treasury and No.10/Cabinet Office.
This month’s launch event built on many of the key themes relating to fusion’s development in the UK such as technology and innovation, investment, infrastructure, international collaboration, grid development, skills and education, safety, lifecycle, manufacturing and the supply chain.
Ministerial Insight
Minister for Nuclear and Renewables, Andrew Bowie, gave a keynote speech at FIT’s launch and remarked:
“Fusion holds huge potential for the clean energy transition and the UK is leading the world in developing this technology. The insight and expertise of this taskforce will be instrumental in helping us turn our fusion ambitions into reality in the months and years ahead”.
Minister Bowie talked about fusion energy’s critical role as a safe and sustainable energy source for the world but that the goal of achieving ‘first fusion’ in the UK through the STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) programme in the 2040s will only be achieved through increased sector collaboration backed by a supportive UK fusion industry.
Minister Bowie talked further about the ramp up of investment in skills through the Fusion Futures programme – a financial commitment to build UK fusion capacity.
Increased global collaboration with the UK’s allies such as the US and Canada was also highlighted by the Minister as a crucial pillar for ensuring that the country remains the best place to do fusion in the decades ahead.
Panel Session Perspectives
A panel session was held at the event, moderated by FIT’s chair Dr Michael Zdanowski, with leading fusion energy experts including Dr Richard Pearson, Chief Innovator, Co-founder and UK Director of Kyoto Fusioneering, Beth Jim, Energy Transition Manager from global engineering company Assystem, Jonathan Musgrove, COO and Co-founder of Oxford Sigma, as well as Deputy Leader for Bassetlaw District Council and Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Bassetlaw, Jo White.
Jo’s valuable insights provided a regional perspective of how the ecosystem of fusion organisations might develop at West Burton in Nottinghamshire, STEP’s future home. Jo talked about the project’s potential to deliver high paid jobs so that local young people in Bassetlaw would not have to move away from the area.
Panel speakers covered the international transfer of fusion engineers into the UK and the urgent need to build a strong pipeline of home-grown students to service the needs of the industry for the decades to come.
The panellists pointed to the requirement to develop access to global resources so that the UK has the materials it needs to build a sustainable and world-leading fusion industry. Ensuring that the UK builds its own fusion testing facilities to service the needs of STEP was a hot topic at the launch.
Panellists agreed that fusion is almost certainly the biggest single engineering challenge of the twenty-first century but that it will take time to crack – this is why inspiring the next generation to get involved in the UK’s fusion sector is so important.
Consistency in Government Policy Key
Consistent Government policy on fusion was called out as a major element for the UK to build a sustainable fusion industry and supply chain over the years to come. It is against this backdrop that stakeholders at the event agreed the vital role of FIT in bringing together both private and public bodies to accelerate the drive to an energy source that might in future not just deliver growth, jobs and prosperity to the UK but also go some way to ensuring the UK’s self-sufficiency in clean energy.
