About UKAEA 

We lead the world in fusion energy research with a range of programmes covering plasma science, robotics, materials testing and development, and tritium science.

UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) carries out fusion energy research on behalf of the UK Government. We believe fusion will be part of the world’s future energy mix, and achieving this involves working at the forefront of science, engineering, and technology.

We oversee the UK’s fusion programme, headed by the MAST Upgrade (Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak) experiment. We also host the world’s largest fusion research facility, JET (Joint European Torus), operated for scientists from around Europe.

Fusion energy has great potential to deliver safe, sustainable, low carbon energy for generations to come. It is based on the same processes that power the sun and stars.

When a mix of two forms of hydrogen (deuterium and tritium) is heated to form a controlled plasma at extreme temperatures – 10 times hotter than the core of the sun – they fuse together to create helium and release energy which can be harnessed to produce electricity.

There is more than one way of achieving this. At UKAEA, we hold this hot plasma using strong magnets in a ring-shaped machine called a ‘tokamak’. The energy created from fusion can be used to generate electricity in the same way as existing power stations.