GHG Emissions, Industrial - November 14, 2023
US, UK Partner on Fusion Projects
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (DESNZ) formed a major new strategic partnership to accelerate the demonstration and commercialization of fusion energy.
This partnership will focus on advancing the U.S. Bold Decadal Vision for Commercial Fusion Energy and the UK’s Fusion Strategy, according to a statement issued by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy, David M. Turk, and the United Kingdom’s Minister for Nuclear and Networks, Andrew Bowie.
Fusion energy could provide a low-carbon, safe, sustainable and reliable energy supply with the potential to transform global efforts to achieve net-zero carbon emissions and to enhance energy security and resilience.
The U.S. and the U.K. have collaborated for many years in generating scientific and technological progress in fusion energy research and development, supported predominantly in the U.S. through the DOE Office of Science’s Fusion Energy Sciences program and in the UK through the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA). The new partnership builds on this collaborative history, including the UKAEA-Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Fusion Fellowships as well as research on the MAST-U tokamak in the UK and the DIII-D National Fusion Facility in the U.S.
The partnership intends to:
- Address the technical challenges of delivering commercially viable fusion energy;
- Focus on shared access to and development of major new national facilities required for fusion research and development, and how a coordinated, strategic approach can maximize value for the United States and the UK;
- Explore opportunities to support the international harmonization of regulatory frameworks and codes and standards; and
- Identify and support the development of resilient supply chains that will be necessary for commercial fusion deployment.
A joint coordinating committee to drive the work of the new partnership will be announced soon, and the committee is expected to meet for the first time in early 2024. This committee is to be co-chaired by DOE and DESNZ and is expected to include participation from national laboratories, academia and industry.
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