Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what budget has been allocated to research on nuclear fusion up to 29 March 2019.

The UK’s publicly funded fusion research is led by the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).

UKAEA receives direct funding from the Euratom Research and Training Programme (£57.3 m in 2017/18 and £55.1 m in 2018/19) primarily for research carried out at the Joint European Torus (JET).

UKAEA also receives grant funding for fusion research from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (£26.1m in 2017/18 and £27.0m in 2018/19).

UKAEA also receives additional funding from the UK Government for specific projects which have been worth £5.4m so far in 2017/18. Firm allocations for the financial year 2018/19 and beyond have not yet been made.

The UK is also a member of Fusion for Energy, the EU based partnership delivering its contribution to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, the next generation international fusion project in France. The EU expects to contribute €380m in 2018 and €427m in 2019 to ITER. The EU budget beyond 2020 is subject to agreement with EU member states.

Information relating to private sector investment in fusion in the UK is not available.