Once mastered, nuclear fusion has the potential to offer an almost limitless
source of energy with minimal environmental impact.
The fusion process involves the fusing of several atoms such as deuterium (heavy
hydrogen) and tritium (super heavy hydrogen) at very high temperatures (>100 million
ºC) to produce energy. Similar to the process that powers the sun and other stars,
fusion gives off no greenhouse gases or harmful emissions.
There are still great challenges to overcome before fusion becomes a viable source
of energy for the future but continued funding will not only provide the facilities
and research base necessary for progression but also the skilled scientists and
engineers needed to continue to work in this area.
The UK Fusion Programme is based at the Culham Science Centre in Oxfordshire,
one of the world’s leading centres for fusion research -
Culham Centre for Fusion Energy
(CCFE). In addition, we are collaborating with the EURATOM directorate of the
European Commission to fund the
Joint European Torus (JET),
the largest and most powerful magnetic fusion device in the world.
JET is also based at Culham and is a precursor to the next generation fusion
facility "ITER",
which is now being built in Cadarache, France.
We also support a
centre of excellence in fusion plasma physics at the University of Warwick.
In order to sustain the UK skills base in fusion research, the programme has
awarded several
studentships
in this area and has recently announced a
fusion doctoral training network based at the University of York.
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