The Chancellor sees a bright future for fusion energy
Chancellor of the Exchequer, The Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP visited UKAEA's Culham Science Centre on 10 May to see their ground-breaking research in fusion energy
Ian Chapman provides the Chancellor with a tour of fusion facilities at Culham
Fusion energy is a transformative, abundant, clean and safe new source of electricity for future decades.
The Chancellor was shown UKAEA’s new MAST Upgrade fusion experiment – an innovative device which when switched on later this year will investigate a more compact, efficient route to future fusion power stations and tackle the challenge of heat exhaust from future reactors.
He also took the chance to see the cutting edge robotic work being undertaken at UKAEA’s Remote Applications in Challenging Environments (RACE) centre – which is working closely with UK industry to design remote maintenance systems for future power plants.
Professor Ian Chapman, UKAEA CEO, also took the chance to outline UKAEA’s vision to put fusion electricity onto the grid, designing and constructing powerplants with an estimated global market worth £Tns, as part of the UK’s burgeoning Industrial and Clean Growth Strategy.
Professor Chapman said:
It was a pleasure to show the Chancellor around UKAEA’s ground breaking facilities and explain our ambition to remain genuine world leaders in this transformative energy technology. Alongside other carbon free energy sources, fusion has a huge role to play in the future as we move away from burning fossil fuels and create clean and sustainable sources of energy.