US and UK Join Forces to Accelerate Commercialization of Fusion Energy

The collaboration builds on a memorandum of understanding signed by both parties in June this year and will utilize experimental data from UKAEA's MAST Upgrade device and PPPL's NSTX-U device. Since both devices are compact spherical tokamaks of similar design, they are highly suitable for joint AI model training. By connecting the supercomputing systems of both countries, US and UK researchers can share experimental data across the Atlantic, use data from bilateral facilities to train AI, and select the most compatible supercomputer to run models, in order to create digital twin systems for future fusion power plants (such as the UK's STEP project and the US's STAR concept).

In the field of materials science, the University of Birmingham in the UK and the US Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) announced the launch of the major collaboration project “FURESHMA” (Fusion Reactor Shielding Materials). The project has received a total of £2.63 million in funding from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and EPRI, with the participation of Element Six. The project aims to test advanced boride and carbide shielding materials to enhance the durability and reliability of shielding materials under extreme conditions such as intense neutron irradiation, extremely high temperatures, and thermomechanical stress. The University of Birmingham and EPRI have agreed to openly share the data generated by the project to benefit the global fusion industry.

In addition, the US state of Tennessee, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and the UK government also announced deepened cooperation, focusing on advancing fusion supply chain development, workforce training, and establishing regulatory pathways that support safe and rapid commercial scaling. This cooperation builds on the synergies between Tennessee's “Project Infinity” and the “UK Infinity Fusion Consortium,” bringing together multiple parties including Type One Energy, Tokamak Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and UKAEA. Tennessee's dedicated fusion licensing framework introduced in June 2026 is highly compatible with the regulatory mechanism under the UK's Energy Act 2023, and both sides will engage in deep collaboration in areas such as supply chain strengthening, fuel cycle technologies including tritium handling and lithium enrichment, researcher exchanges, and power grid interconnection planning.