Engineers in Oxfordshire have lowered a 12-tonne (13-ton) steel structure into position for the UK’s flagship fusion experiment. The move marks a key engineering milestone on the path to limitless clean energy.

The component, known as a double beam box, was hoisted into place at the Culham Campus of the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA). It forms the backbone of a major upgrade to the MAST Upgrade facility, a compact, spherical fusion device designed to test reactor physics.

The new box will house two neutral beam injectors. These systems fire high-energy neutral atoms straight into superheated gas, or plasma. The bombardment heats the fuel toward the extreme temperatures required for commercial fusion.

Once completed, the double-decker system will double the machine’s neutral beam heating power from 4.4 megawatts to 8.8 megawatts. In turn, core plasma temperatures are expected to soar from 30 million degrees Celsius to roughly 60 million degrees.

Reaching such heat is vital for the UK’s long-term fusion ambitions. The extreme environment will give researchers an ideal test bed for STEP, or Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production, the prototype commercial plant Britain plans to build in Nottinghamshire.

Andrew Thornton, who leads MAST Upgrade operations, called the successful lift a huge step forward for the facility. He noted that doubling the heating power allows the team to explore extreme conditions that were previously out of reach. 

The experiments will test whether the reactor’s exhaust system can endure the punishment of such high-performance plasma without degrading.

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