Fusion startups, large scale AI data centres and supercomputing are proposed for the UKAEA Culham Campus following the closure of the JET (Joint European Torus) project.
In an open tender, the UKAEA is calling for expressions of interest in opportunities to deliver the AI and simulation capabilities needed for fusion, such as data centres and supercomputing facilities that can benefit from the significant high power infrastructure on the site.
The tender states that the UKAEA is considering releasing land and its reconfigured power connections to both its 132kV and 400kV electricity grids for the explicit purpose of growing a cluster of facilities and tenant organisations to accelerate the UK’s mission to deliver fusion power to the grid in the 2040s.
With its high power infrastructure Culham offers a unique opportunity not only for fusion startups, but also for locating large scale data centres in support of the unprecedented growth in the AI/tech and adjacent sectors that urgently require expansion of large-scale compute, the tender reads.
As stated in the UKAEA release: “These disruptive technologies underpin UKAEA’s fusion roadmap but will also be essential for other applications targeting net zero, e.g. battery technology, offshore wind turbines, small modular reactors, fly net zero, etc.”.
Expressions of interest are anticipated from data centre hosting organisations, cloud service providers, industrial high power computing/AI users, OEMs within the high power computing supply chain and other forms of private investment.
The JET project was closed at the start of 2024, following over 40 years of operation and is undergoing repurposing and decommissioning.
Its successor is the international ITER project in France – of which the UK is not a member – while in the UK the UKAEA’s STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) programme is aimed to deliver a prototype fusion plant in Nottinghamshire ca 2040.
The Culham Campus is situated close to the university city of Oxford, with available power supplies capable of delivering 575MW peak capacity and 144MW steady state capacity and with upgrade works is due to receive dual supply resilient connection to National Grid by mid-2026.
