Construction News has reported that construction companies are currently competing to work on a new nuclear plant, to be known as the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) facility.
The companies bidding include Balfour, Kier and Ferrovial and the new job could be worth up to £20bn, according to UK Industrial Fusion Solutions (UKIFS).
For the laypeople among us, nuclear fusion differs from nuclear fission (the process currently employed in the nuclear industry).
Nuclear fission occurs when a neutron slams into a larger atom, splitting it into two smaller atoms and releasing huge amounts of energy. The energy released heats water into steam, which drives a turbine and produces carbon-free electricity.
In nuclear fusion, two atoms slam together and fuse to form a heavier atom. The energy produced is greater than that of fission, but difficult to sustain because of the immense pressure and temperature necessary to combine them. As such, nuclear fusion has yet to be harnessed, despite its theoretical potential to provide infinite low-carbon energy. It does, however, have an additional benefit in that no highly radioactive products are produced.
Recent breakthroughs suggest that fusion will be a viable green energy solution; hopefully construction of the STEP facility will bring this closer to reality.
Ian Weinfass, ‘Balfour, Kier and Ferrovial view for £20bn nuclear fusion job’, www.constructionnews.co.uk, 16 January 2025
