Oxford joins Imperial and York in £12 million fusion power industry partnership

Fusion is known to have transformational potential as a safe, clean, and abundant energy source if fusion conditions, which require intense heat and pressure, could be created. However, techniques tried so far have only generated limited amounts of energy, leading to questions about the scalability of such methods and of fusion power in general. University of Oxford spinout First Light Fusion is developing a technique it believes could prove more scalable than those tried so far, based on projectile fusion. ‘Machine learning tools, such as neural-network-based emulators, have an important role to play in exploring the extreme states of matter required to deliver fusion,’ comments Professor Vinko. ‘This grant, which we are doubling to bring the total to £12 million, will be a vital platform in recruiting the best and brightest physicists to First Light Fusion, and more critically, unlock important physics research as we continue with our mission of solving the problem of fusion power with the simplest machine possible,’ says Dr Nick Hawker, Engineering Science alumni and co-founder and CEO of First Light Fusion.