Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with those in charge of laboratories in Oxford who are working on the generation of electricity from nuclear fusion; and what resources they are making available to accelerate this research and its practical application.
The Government works closely with the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), the UK’s fusion research organisation based in Oxfordshire. UKAEA is widely recognised as a global leader in fusion R&D and is critical to the delivery of the UK’s Fusion Strategy, which was published last year. Since 2017 the Government has committed around £500m towards new UKAEA research programmes and facilities and will continue to support fusion research over the new Spending Review period with £708m allocated to UKAEA within the Government’s £39.8bn R&D budget for 2022-2025. This will help to keep the UK in pole position to commercialise fusion energy, which would be low-carbon, sustainable and secure.