Published 19th Jun 2023, 05:45 BST

The Government is supporting the opening of a £20bn fusion powerplant in West Burton, North Nottinghamshire around 2040 and officials met with business leaders in neighbouring South Yorkshire last week to discuss how they could initially be part of the design and build phase.

It is hoped the plant will demonstrate how fusion energy can produce electricity in a process where two forms of hydrogen are heated together to create helium and release large amounts of energy. But significant technical challenges currently remain in turning that energy into electricity.

Construction is due to begin in the early 2030s and create at least 3,500 jobs, with around 1,000 further jobs then expected to be created for the plant’s operations. The UK Atomic Energy Authority, which is leading the project, expects the plant will be part of a wider fusion energy ‘ecosystem’ employing thousands of people.

Members of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority team at the Sheffield United event.

Dozens of people attended an event at the Sheffield United conference centre last Thursday ahead of the launch of procurement work for construction and engineering partners.

The project’s chief engineer Chris Waldon told The Yorkshire Post: “Essentially we are trying to build a new fusion supply chain which doesn’t exist at the moment. That’s quite a serious thing.

“We talk about an engineer partner and a construction partner but there’s no single organisation that has all the capability we need.

“This was a matchmaking event where organisations could come together, ask us questions and go away and decide whether they want to collaborate or form partnerships.

“We had some major organisations in the room and if they were serious partners they would set up local offices and this would become a centre for those large organisations.”

He said South Yorkshire is seen as a key hub, with an associated Fusion Technology Facility already open in Rotherham, a partnership in place with the University of Sheffield and organisations like Sheffield Forgemasters operating in the region.

Fusion energy promises to be a safe, sustainable and low-carbon part of the world’s future energy supply.

Mr Waldon said: “The prime focus is to build a prototype fusion powerplant by 2040. There’s always been a bit of a joke about fusion that it is always 30 to 40 years away but now we are going for real to make something happen in a reasonable timescale.

“It is not an immediate response to the climate challenges but in the second part of the century it could feature as being a really viable alternative to what we have in place. It is a long game and could be quite transformative. It is a fantastic opportunity.

“It is a high-risk, high-gain programme which is unusual for Government. It is a case of now actually turning it into something tangible the UK can make an economy out of.

“It is going to generate a whole new industry in the region.

“It is very similar to back in the 1950s when they first started nuclear power plants and made that transition from a concept into something that became established.

“It is not just delivering a prototype, we are actually growing a whole new industry and we are passing the baton on from the researchers to the industrialists.”

He said the existing European fusion research centre has been operating in Oxfordshire for 40 years and has had major supply-chain benefits which could be replicated in this region.

“When these things land, it is like any mega-infrastructure project - there will be a massive bulge in the local economy and ongoing benefits. This is going to be an epicentre for fusion within the world.”

Yorkshire due to sit at heart of new fusion energy industry - creating thousands of local jobs