The European Commission has put forward a €9.8bn ($11.5bn) budget proposal for the EU’s next Euratom nuclear research programme, fuelling’s Europe’s ambition to become the first to develop and commercialise fusion energy.

The commission said it has adopted a proposal for the Euratom research and training programme that includes a doubling of the research and innovation budget for both nuclear fission and fusion.

Technically, the next edition of the Euratom budget for 2028-2034 will be almost five times bigger than the current €1.98bn nuclear research programme, according to the new proposal.

But much of the increase is due to a plan by the commission to route the EU’s full contribution to the €20bn International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter) fusion project in the south of France via Euratom. Before, the Iter money was pooled in from multiple EU funds.