RCUK position statement on the recent reports regarding the development of a new UK based fusion power station

Issue date: 24^th February 2010

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.

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.