First Light Fusion, a British fusion energy startup, and the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) have signed an agreement to design and construct a new facility to house First Light’s Machine 4 at UKAEA’s Culham Campus in Oxfordshire.

The construction of the facility is expected to begin in 2024 with operations to commence in 2027. First Light’s Machine 4 will not be generating power but will be used to develop the technology needed for future inertial confinement fusion energy power plants.

This partnership follows the recent world-first net energy gain result by the National Ignition Facility (NIF), at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. While First Light follows the inertial confinement approach to fusion used by NIF, it also involves firing a projectile at a fuel pellet to force it to fuse and produce energy. This approach has been validated by UKAEA.

Analyst QuickTake: In April 2022 , First Light Fusion achieved the world’s first fusion result generated using projectile technology. Following this in July 2022, the company partnered with IDOM , a Spanish engineering provider, to develop a fusion reactor chamber to be deployed at First Light’s pilot fusion energy power plant. Furthermore, in November 2022, the company partnered with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL), a nuclear science and technology company, to develop the preliminary design of a system capable of extracting tritium from the First Light reactor, as well as tritium processing and storage solutions.