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Nuclear fusion already generating £84m for UK economy

At least £300m in exports since 2005 and £84m a year in gross value added (GVA) comes into the UK economy thanks to fusion energy R&D, a report out today states, highlighting the economic benefit the path to fusion power is having in the UK. The study, which looks at the advantage to Oxfordshire of having the world’s foremost fusion research centre located there, also uncovered a large pool of investment flowing into the industry, with private fusion technology companies securing £30m of private investment since 2012 for R&D in the area.

Nuclear fusion is the ‘holy grail’ of clean energy: no emissions, no long-lived radioactive waste and no fallout risk, coupled with a vast power output. Yet it is often considered an unattainable goal. The new report, “An impact study of the fusion energy research cluster in Oxfordshire”, written by independent local economy expert Toby Warren, shows the benefits to the local economy of pursuing this elusive goal and how such research pays for itself many times over. 1,000 people are employed in Oxfordshire in fusion R&D roles at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE), Tokamak Energy and First Light Fusion. The world’s most powerful fusion reactor, the Joint European Torus (JET) is located at Culham. A further 800 jobs are in suppliers to these organisations, taking the tally of jobs reliant on fusion energy to 1,800 in the county.

Dr David Kingham, CEO, Tokamak Energy, expands:

“Fusion energy R&D is undergoing a revolution. Small, agile private companies across the globe are developing ever more ingenious machines that are making the goal of commercially viable fusion years away, rather than many decades. Oxfordshire is at the centre of this race. JET holds the world record for most power ever generated from a fusion reactor at 16MW. Tokamak Energy has recently demonstrated 29 hours continuous operation of novel high temperature superconducting magnets in its prototype compact tokamak. The scientific and social benefits of what we are doing are clear to see, now it is time for the economic benefits to be understood too.

“Billions are set to be invested into private fusion energy research in the USA and Canada, and into large international facilities in Europe, but the unique cluster of capabilities in Oxfordshire gives us a clear competitive advantage. The combination of local expertise in tokamak fusion, cryogenics and in high field superconducting magnets is unbeatable. Oxfordshire can play a key role in winning the fusion energy race and as a result enjoy massive economic beneï¬Âts in the future. But by simply being a part of this race, fusion energy is already creating a booming economy that benefits the UK and yet further establishes us as global leaders in scientific R&D.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by David Kingham .