By Ejekwu Chidiebere
The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), the UK’s national organization responsible for the research and delivery of sustainable fusion energy, and Eni, have today Friday, March 7 2025, entered into an agreement to jointly conduct research and development activities in the field of fusion energy. The collaboration starts with the construction of the world’s largest and most advanced tritium fuel cycle facility, regarded as a vital fuel for future fusion power stations. The “UKAEA-Eni H3AT (pronounced ‘heat’) Tritium Loop Facility”, located at Culham Campus will be completed in 2028, Eni has told Energy Window International in a statement.
Eni discloses that Tritium recovery and re-use will play a fundamental role in the supply and generation of the fuel in future fusion power plants, this is while recognizing its crucial role in making technology increasingly efficient.
Fusion according to the statement is a form of energy whereby the power of the Sun is replicated on Earth. “The fusion process sees two hydrogen isotopes fuse together under intense heat and pressure to form a helium atom, releasing large amounts of emissions-free energy through a safe, cleaner and virtually inexhaustible process.”
“Fusion energy could be transformational to contribute to energy security and decarbonisation.”
Energy Window International has also gathered that the “UKAEA-Eni H3AT Tritium Loop Facility” has been designed to serve as a world-class facility providing industry and the academia the opportunity to study how to process, store and recycle tritium.
UKAEA and Eni will collaborate to develop advanced technological solutions in fusion energy and related technologies, including skills transfer initiatives.
Eni will contribute to the H3AT project with its expertise in managing and developing large-scale projects, helping to de-risk its roadmap. It’s also seen as a partnership which will combine UKAEA’s extensive expertise in fusion research and development with Eni’s established industrial-scale capabilities in plant engineering, commissioning, and operations.
UK Climate Minister, Kerry McCarthy, said: “We are proud to be at the forefront of global innovation in clean energy fusion technologies, and this collaboration with Eni marks a significant step towards unlocking the potential of fusion energy, supporting our missions for economic growth, clean power and energy independence.
The UKAEA-Eni H3AT Tritium Loop Facility will not only position the UK as a leader in the development of fusion fuel technologies but also accelerate progress towards a future of safe, sustainable, and abundant clean energy.”
Professor Sir Ian Chapman, CEO of UKAEA, said: “We are delighted to be working with Eni who have shown great commitment to fusion. We believe that fusion energy can contribute to a net zero future, including going beyond the decarbonisation of electricity.
The H3AT demonstration plant will set a new benchmark as the largest and most advanced tritium fuel cycle facility in the world, paving the way for innovative offerings in fusion fuel and demonstrating the UK’s leadership in this crucial area of research and development.”
Claudio Descalzi, Eni CEO said: “Fusion energy is meant to revolutionize the global energy transition path, accelerating the decarbonisation of our economic and industrial systems, helping to spread access to energy, and reducing energy dependency ties within a more equitable transition framework. Eni is strongly committed to various areas of research and development of this complex technology, in which it has always firmly believed. Today with our UK partners we are laying the foundations for further progress towards the goal of fusion which—if we consider its enormous scope of technological innovation—is increasingly concrete and not so far off in time. To continue this virtuous development, international system-level technological partnerships like this one are indispensable”.
Eni says it supports a socially fair energy transition with the aim of promoting efficient and progressively more sustainable access to energy resources. Adding that it places innovation at the centre of its strategic vision, while transforming related businesses through significant investment in research, development, and the implementation of technologies to progressively decarbonizing its energy mix aimed at achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
UKAEA’s mission the statement revealed, is to lead the delivery of sustainable fusion energy and maximize the scientific and economic benefit. It also aims to solve the challenges of this new energy source, from design through to decommissioning with world-leading science and engineering. UKAEA meanwhile enables partners to design, deliver, and operate commercial fusion power plants around the globe, fostering the creation of clusters that accelerate innovation and help drive economic growth.