UKAEA fusion roadmap sets 2030 targets for STEP and UK industry

UKAEA’s MAST Upgrade machine at Culham Campus forms the experimental backbone of the UK’s plasma confinement programme under the new 2026–2030 fusion roadmap

(Image courtesy of UK Atomic Energy Authority)

The UK Atomic Energy Authority has published its 2026–2030 fusion roadmap, setting out a structured programme to advance plasma confinement science, build industrial capacity, and support the detailed design of the STEP prototype power plant. Published on 14 April at The Economist‘s Fusion Fest in London, the strategy is backed by a £2.5 billion government budget commitment for fusion research, development and innovation through to 2030 – and arrives as total private funding for fusion companies globally has reached $9.766 billion, a five-fold increase since 2021.

UKAEA fusion roadmap targets four core challenges

The UKAEA fusion roadmap frames the path to deployable fusion energy around four interrelated technical challenges. The first requires achieving a fusion core that exports more energy than it consumes while managing the demands on components inside the machine. The second addresses fuel self-sufficiency, developing a closed fuel cycle that removes the need for a sustained external tritium supply. Systems integration – combining components from diverse technical disciplines into a single working plant – forms the third challenge. The fourth anchors all of the above in affordability and attractiveness within a competitive global energy market.

To address these, UKAEA will concentrate work across eight technical disciplines: plasma understanding and control, fuel cycle development, advanced materials, robotics and automation, high-temperature superconducting magnets, components production, integration and design, and advanced computing. These disciplines span the scientific and engineering demands of the four core challenges across the full fusion lifecycle. Central to the advanced computing effort is Sunrise, a named AI supercomputer at Culham described in the strategy as a strategic UK capability focused on fusion, enabling virtual testing of early design concepts and the development of digital twins ahead of physical construction.

UKAEA will formally serve as “Fusion Partner” to its subsidiary, UK Fusion Energy Ltd, applying this capability to advance STEP’s detailed engineering design. UKAEA CEO Dr Tim Bestwick described the strategy as providing “further detail of our programme,” building on the UK Government’s Fusion Strategy published the previous month.

Building the fusion supply chain and research infrastructure

The 2030 objectives extend beyond internal technical milestones. UKAEA has committed to increasing the number of UK companies delivering fusion products and services globally, completing new research facilities at Culham Campus in Oxfordshire – including LIBRTI, with continued development of the H3AT tritium facility already operating at Culham – and growing a new generation of fusion scientists, engineers, and technical experts. Efforts will span four sites: Culham Campus, West Burton in Nottinghamshire, Cumbria, and South Yorkshire.

Three new initiatives accompany the strategy launch. An SME guide gives smaller businesses a practical route into the fusion supply chain. The Diagnostics Centre for Excellence draws on UKAEA’s plasma science expertise. The Cumbria Robotics Operation Skills Centre targets the industrial robotics workforce that advanced fusion facilities will require. The strategy frames these moves as part of a coordinated effort to derisk pathways to deployable fusion and stimulate growth of the UK fusion supply chain. Fusion is described as a multi-trillion-pound global industry expected to emerge in the second half of the century, with 2026 identified as an inflection point for the sector.

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