The UK plans to build a prototype fusion plant by the early 2040s that can put electricity on the grid and demonstrates that fusion energy is commercially viable. Researchers with the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) hope to produce about 100 MW of net electricity with the new plant, sustain the amount of tritium needed to spur fusion reactions, and show that the plant can be maintained over time, says Paul Methven, CEO of UK Industrial Fusion Solutions, a private entity established by the UK government that is responsible for the delivery of STEP. The goals are “massively ambitious,” he says, “but just about doable.”
The idea that fusion energy is “getting closer to commercialization started with the UK going out for a site and creating the STEP program,” says Stephen Dean, the president of Fusion Power Associates, a research and advocacy organization that disseminates fusion-development information. In doing...
