The government has committed an additional £2.5 billion to the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) project, raising fresh questions over the viability of nuclear fusion as a near-term energy solution.
STEP, a fusion energy programme led by the UK Atomic Energy Authority, is planned for construction at West Burton in Nottinghamshire.
Its goal is to produce 100MW of net energy by the 2040s using a spherical tokamak design, a variant of traditional fusion reactors that promises greater efficiency and stability.
The investment, marks a dramatic increase from the £220 million provided in 2022, when West Burton was selected as the project site.
Despite this influx of funds, visible progress has been limited.
According to STEP’s website, the project is still in phase one, which includes concept design, regulatory work and partner selection.
“We now have a concept design for the powerplant,” STEP states. “We also have a site.”
Phase two, involving planning consent, technology demonstration and component manufacturing, has not yet begun.
Phase three – actual construction – is not scheduled to start until the 2030s.
Critics argue that the scale of the latest funding boost is hard to justify. Fusion remains unproven at a commercial level.
The only facility to achieve ignition – where more energy is produced than delivered to the reaction chamber – is the National Ignition Facility in California.
Even then, powering its lasers consumed vastly more energy than the reaction produced.
The UK is not alone in its efforts. Chinese researchers recently achieved nearly 18 minutes of plasma confinement and European scientists extended that record, but no breakthroughs have yet demonstrated commercial viability.
Despite the uncertainty, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband remains optimistic. “We are now within grasping distance of unlocking the power of the sun and providing families with secure, clean, unlimited energy,” he said.
But critics warn that with national debt rising and public services under strain, the dream of fusion could come at a very real cost.
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