FLF says its innovative technology can speed up deployment
UK-based inertial fusion energy (IFE) company First Light Fusion (FLF) has warned that the UK risks falling behind the US and China in the race for nuclear fusion without a shift in approach.
The company joined forces with consultancy Stonehaven to release a new report, Future for Fusion Roadmap, outlining how Britain could achieve commercial nuclear fusion within the next decade.
The report warns that the US and China are both investing billions to commercialise fusion by the 2030s. Falling behind could cost Britain strategic, economic and technological advantages in a sector poised to transform global energy systems.
The report suggests that by combining FLF’s innovative Flare method with targeted regulatory reforms, the UK could reach commercial fusion significantly sooner than the government’s current 2040 target. Accelerating fusion deployment would strengthen Britain’s position in the energy sector and create spillover benefits for industries such as defence, aerospace and artificial intelligence.
FLF says Flare (Fusion via Low-power Assembly and Rapid Excitation) is a fusion method that separates the compression and ignition of fusion fuel. Instead of trying to heat and compress fuel simultaneously, Flare first uses a low-power pulsed power-driven cylindrical implosion to efficiently compress the fuel. After compression, a separate, rapid excitation process ignites the fuel, which is intended to create a high “energy gain” – the ratio of energy out to energy in – far exceeding current records.
The report argues that integrating IFE alongside magnetic confinement fusion (MCF) in the UK’s research and regulatory framework could significantly shorten development timelines, bringing commercial fusion closer to reality.
To make the UK the preferred destination for fusion development, FLF and Stonehaven are advocating for recognition of IFE alongside MCF in the UK fusion strategy.
IFE and MCF are two different approaches to achieving nuclear fusion. IFE uses powerful lasers or particle beams to rapidly compress and heat a tiny fuel pellet, relying on the fuel's own inertia to contain the fusion reaction for a fraction of a second before it disperses. MCF uses powerful magnetic fields to contain superheated plasma in a continuous, stable state, often in donut-shaped devices like a tokamak.
