Oxford Sigma joined experts from across the fusion sector – government, developers, supply chain and industry, academia and energy sector professionals – to explore the next steps for UK fusion energy at the hybrid event ‘Developments in UK fusion energy: skills, industry and the state of play’ convened by Assystem.
Andrew Bowie, Minister for Nuclear and Networks, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, explained that the UK is becoming the ‘global hub for fusion innovation’ and that ‘fusion has the potential to be the ultimate clean power solution, offering a low-carbon, safe, continuous, and sustainable source of energy.’ Minister Bowie claimed that ‘working with the private sector is vital to take fusion from vision to reality.’ To this aim, he said that ‘the UK is already playing a pivotal role in the growth of private fusion’ as he highlighted Oxford Sigma as one of the successful home-grown ‘firms fostered here in the UK’ with our expansion of ‘operations to markets such as the USA, Canada, Japan, and across Europe.’
During the meeting, Oxford Sigma’s Technology Manager, Alasdair Morrison, spoke on the panel discussing fusion skills and innovation, talent pipeline, investment and financing, R&D, international collaboration, security and other challenges.
‘Materials is an international problem. Everyone is going to need materials and the challenges are definitely global… Going from that understanding of the science into something that is an engineered solution, that has a safety assurance and the materials properties at its heart, whether that means qualifying materials or having materials that you can actually get in the supply chain now, are really severe challenges to overcome. That’s something that we are addressing on a daily basis.’
~ Alasdair Morrison, Technology Manager, Oxford Sigma
To watch the full recording of the webinar, visit the Assystem webpage here.
About Oxford Sigma
Oxford Sigma tackles energy security and climate change by accelerating the commercialisation of fusion energy. Oxford Sigma’s mission is to deliver materials technology, materials solutions, and fusion design services in order to accelerate the commercialisation of fusion energy. Oxford Sigma is internationally recognised as a key fusion materials and technological leader within the market. The company operates in the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Canada, and Japan.
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