STEP Fusion program announces manufacturing and project partnerships

On Tuesday, U.K. Fusion Energy announced a strategic partnership with an advanced manufacturing company to support the STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) Fusion program. On the same day, Kyoto Fusioneering announced it would invest in a breeding blanket experiment that would be designed to advance STEP.

The announcements coincide with U.K. Fusion Week, the announcement of several U.S.-U.K. fusion partnerships, and the U.K. government's release of a fusion investment prospectus.

Manufacturing for STEP: UKFE, a wholly owned subsidiary of the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority, will be partnering with Infinity Technology Group to bring full-scale prototyping, digital engineering, and advanced manufacturing capabilities to the STEP program.

The U.K.'s STEP program is designed to advance fusion energy toward commercial deployment. Program plans include beginning construction on a prototype tokamak power plant at West Burton in Nottinghamshire in the 2030s and commencing operations in 2040, aiming to demonstrate net energy.

According to the announcement, Infinity, which is developing an advanced manufacturing site in Derby, will support research, testing, skills development, supply chain collaboration, and manufacturing of fusion components, including large, complex, and high-integrity components that use such technologies as hot isostatic pressing, power beam welding, and additive manufacturing.

"Delivering STEP Fusion will depend on manufacturing capabilities that do not yet exist at the scale we need. This partnership gives us the opportunity to help shape those capabilities around the future needs of the program," said Dan Bishop, chief commercial officer at UKFE. "By working with Infinity, we can support the development of advanced manufacturing, testing, and validation capability in the U.K. while creating more opportunities for industry to contribute to STEP and the wider fusion economy."

STEP also announced that UKFE has become a Tier 1 member of the Manufacturing Technology Center, which gives the company access to the center's advanced manufacturing expertise, facilities, and industry networks.

Blanket investment: Kyoto Fusioneering has announced it will invest up to £3 million to design and manufacture a lithium oxide solid breeder blanket experiment and initiate irradiation testing with online tritium measurement capability.

The company's breeder blanket research projects are spread across several facilities, including three through its Unique Integrated Testing Facility (UNITY) program. Last month KF announced that UNITY-3, a fusion breeding blanket test facility, would be hosted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and through collaboration on General Atomics' Fusion Blanket Component Test Facility.

The company said its new investment will be designed to deliver progress for the STEP program while further advancing the understanding of lithium ceramic breeder materials under irradiation.

"The tritium breeder blanket is one of the most challenging components for future fusion power stations, with a range of concepts and technologies in development around the world," said Amy Gandy, head of materials science and engineering at the UKAEA. "KF's investment provides an exciting and novel opportunity to test potential solid breeder concepts in fusion-relevant conditions. Tritium breeder blankets comprise many different materials, not just the fuel source (in this case, Li₂O). KF's project aims to replicate and irradiate a complete breeder blanket module, providing invaluable information not only about tritium production but also how these very different materials will interact with, and affect, each other."