The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), the UK's national fusion energy laboratory, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Novatron Fusion Group, a Swedish company that aims to revolutionise the field of fusion energy production and fast-track the transition to commercial fusion power.
The world's energy demand is growing rapidly, and we need to meet it without reliance on fossil fuels. Fusion power potentially offers a flexible, large-scale, dispatchable source of clean, safe, and virtually limitless energy.
Estimates suggest more than 15 billion tons of CO2 emissions could be saved annually if all coal-fired power plants in the world were replaced with fusion power plants. Looking further to the future, fusion energy could become pervasive and cheap allowing entirely new industries to emerge.
Today's fusion power announcement made public at the London Residence of the Swedish Ambassador to the UK, between the UKAEA and Swedish company Novatron Fusion Group builds on the UK and Sweden's recently signed Strategic Partnership, expanding cooperation on science and innovation, energy, trade and security and defence.
Under the Strategic Partnership - signed by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in October 2023 - both nations committed to 'exploring opportunities for collaboration on fusion energy' after acknowledging the emerging technology's 'importance for long-term sustainable energy supply".
Ambassador of Sweden to the UK, H.E. Mr Stefan Gullgren said: "I am delighted that the Strategic Partnership signed by Sweden and the United Kingdom last year has inspired Novatron Fusion Group and UKAEA to establish a partnership on fusion collaboration. Sweden and the United Kingdom have a long history of investing in cutting-edge research leading to technological advancements. This partnership between two key actors in fusion technology represents yet another building block in our flourishing bilateral cooperation on science and innovation."
Novatron Fusion Group is developing an innovative machine solution (currently the only mirror machine-concept in Europe) for stable magnetic plasma confinement at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.
The new partnership will include site visits, staff exchanges including technology demonstrations alongside broader sharing on knowledge and some IP. Further investigations will be performed in parallel regarding collaboration on the next generation of machines. More specific focus areas include the design of fusion machines: particularly for heating of plasma, along with Diagnostics and Remote handling systems.
Novatron Fusion Group CEO, Peter Roos, said the MoU marked a significant step forward for Europe's fusion energy ambitions. "We're pleased to be strengthening our presence in the UK which is making a serious commitment to fusion energy. International cooperation is essential to ensure a concerted push, not only with technology development, but for swift implement of funding and regulatory changes to pave the way for the fusion energy industry. With support from investors, governments, academia and industry, commerciality is now within reaching distance."
