The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Stellarex Group Ltd. to collaborate on the development of stellarator fusion energy technology.
The MOU provides a framework for joint scientific research and engineering validation to support the development of Stellarex’s simplified stellarator fusion machine.
Signed at the second-annual UK-Canada Nuclear Forum, hosted by the British High Commissioner to Canada at the British High Commission in Ottawa, the collaboration will focus on critical technical areas including physics and confinement, high-temperature superconductor technology, operational systems, diagnostics, and fuel cycle development.
Expertise supporting different fusion approaches
The MOU demonstrates that UKAEA’s decades of fusion expertise extends beyond tokamaks – such as JET and MAST Upgrade – and can support many different fusion system designs, including stellarator technology.
Stellarators, like tokamaks that exist at UKAEA’s Culham Campus, use powerful magnets to confine a fusion plasma. Unlike a tokamak, which confines the fusion plasma in a ring-shaped container called a ‘torus’, a stellarator confines a plasma within a twisting chamber, producing a helical-shaped plasma.
Stephen Wheeler, UKAEA Executive Director, said:
UKAEA has decades of experience operating powerful fusion machines and solving complex fusion challenges that are relevant to many different fusion system designs. We are committed to supporting fusion developers around the globe to help develop fusion as a source of clean energy for tomorrow’s power plants. There are many innovative approaches to fusion and UKAEA is pleased to work with Stellarex to support the development of stellarator technology.
Dr Spencer Pitcher, Co-founder and CEO of Stellarex, added:
Stellarex is delighted to be with the UKAEA, an organisation at the forefront of the global effort to commercialize fusion energy. By combining our simplified stellarator approach with UKAEA’s unparalleled fusion expertise, we are significantly de-risking the path to a commercially viable fusion power plant.