UK scientists celebrate ‘major breakthrough’ in nuclear fusion

The Times ^ | Friday October 17 2025, 11.45am BST | Rhys Blakely

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Researchers make landmark advance in the quest to unlock virtually limitless clean energy from the same reaction that powers the stars

On a former military airfield a few miles south of Oxford, a group of scientists are trying to bottle the sun. Not literally, of course — but their ambitions come close.

Inside a four metre-tall, apple-shaped machine known as the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak Upgrade (MAST-U), they are attempting to recreate, control and ultimately commercialise the fusion reactions that power the stars. In the past few weeks, they have made landmark progress.

Fusion is physics’ grand prize, promising a virtually limitless, carbon-free source of energy. The idea is beguilingly simple: hydrogen atoms are squeezed together so that they merge, or fuse, to become helium. A tiny portion of mass is lost along the way and converted into a great deal of energy.

The process is fundamentally different to the fission reactions that split atoms apart to power conventional nuclear plants. Instead of leaving behind long-lived radioactive waste, fusion’s byproducts are short-lived and far easier to manage.

The challenge lies in persuading fusion to happen. The fuel — atoms of hydrogen — must be heated to tens of millions of degrees, until it becomes plasma, a churning, charged state of matter so hot that no solid wall can contain it. The only way to confine such a temperamental substance is with magnetism.

The MAST-U team is now announcing what the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), which runs the experiment, has called a “major breakthrough”. For the first time in a spherical tokamak — a more compact type of fusion machine than the larger, doughnut-shaped devices other researchers have focused on — they have used small magnetic coils to stabilise the plasma’s outer edge. Until now, that edge has been where...

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TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: fusion; physics; science; stringtheory

[Jonty30]

Only fifty years away now.

[jerod]

Practically right around the corner...

Is it just me... This appears to be the third or fourth story this year about a ‘breakthrough’ in fusion research... Only to find out that they need just a few more billion to figure it all out?

Looks like somebody is looking for an early retirement cash out.

[Repeal The 17th]

So that’s where binary stars came from!

[Governor Dinwiddie]

Children of the Corn.

[ckilmer]

There are currently two U.S. fusion companies who have signed contracts to produce eletricity in Virginia and Washington state . The Washington state delivery is for 2028. The Virginia delivery is for 2030.

[Captain Jack Aubrey]

Strangely, in Chesterfield County, just south of Richmond city, a fusion plant will begin construction soon. It has somehow arranged to receive a lot of tax dollars as an incentive. This is all for a technology that does not exist. Also, strangely, there have been no protests against it. Not from socialists, communists, or Democrats. And not from neighbors. I don’t get it. We’re talking about nuclear power. In an industrial area of Chesterfield. And it’s moving along as though it is real. No challenge from the Democrat media at all.

[jerod]

I’ll believe it when I see it... But I likely won’t for two reasons... Reason one... If this stuff was ‘achievable’... With the billions and billions spent on researching it, why haven’t they achieved it? And reason two... I likely won’t be alive long enough to see it achieved.

[rottndog]

Fusion is
Just.
Around.
The corner.

[Dr. Sivana]

For the first time in a spherical tokamak — a more compact type of fusion machine than the larger, doughnut-shaped devices other researchers have focused on — they have used small magnetic coils to stabilise the plasma’s outer edge.

First "Steak 'n' Shake" starts cooking the fries in lard, then they are a critical part of a fusion breakthrough. What a chain!

[aspasia]

Sure to reduce your energy bill /s

[ckilmer]

Yeah I’m having problems just staying alive too.
So I may not see it either. But the fact that these two companies have signed contracts and are building the plants as we speak— means that they have high confidence that they will deliver as contracted

[SunkenCiv]

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Sun in a Bottle: The Strange History of Fusion and the Science of Wishful Thinking by Charles Seife

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[SunkenCiv]

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[reg45]

UK, France, Germany, and China. Everyone seems to be ahead of the United States in developing nuclear fusion reactors. However, we are ahead in implementing DEI.

[yesthatjallen]

"Is it just me... This appears to be the third or fourth story this year about a ‘breakthrough’ in fusion research... Only to find out that they need just a few more billion to figure it all out?"

It's not just fusion. People here post multiple "breakthrough" articles every day.

[Leaning Right]

I read somewhere that 9 out of 10 new companies eventually fail.

I suspect that the same is true for “scientific breakthroughs”.

Now don’t get me wrong. The one breakthrough the succeeds will be a boon to mankind. So keep on trying, guys.

⚛️

[T. P. Pole]

“So that’s where binary stars came from!”

OK, that was funny.

[SuperLuminal]

Yawn...
Amazing things were reported when I was in graduate school back in 1962...
I will be really pissed if I go to ground temperature before it actually happens...

[dfwgator]