Access Keys:
Research Councils UK (RCUK) invests in world-class research and training that aims to position the UK to meet its energy and environmental targets and policy goals.
Recent reports that RCUK is planning to invest in the development of a new fusion power station are inaccurate. The Expert Group convened by RCUK to help develop our UK fusion for energy strategy concluded that: "The science and engineering research challenges ahead to realise fusion as a commercial energy source are major and the timescales are long and uncertain. Fusion is likely to contribute to energy systems after 2050." However, fusion could make a major contribution to our supply of energy in the long term and so RCUK will continue to support fusion research here as part of the global research effort. The majority of RCUK funding is provided for magnetic confinement fusion, led in the UK by the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy. HiPER (High Power laser Energy Research), the project, led in the UK by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, that reports have been based on is very much in the early stages and uses an approach to fusion based on inertial confinement using lasers. The Expert Group considered that the pathway to realise this type of fusion as a commercial power station was at least as long and difficult as for magnetic confinement fusion. The RCUK revised strategy for fusion energy was released on 18 February 2010.