Eni-UKAEA to build tritium fuel facility

March 10, 2025

The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has taken a significant step to support future fusion power plants. The UKAEA has partnered with Eni, an Italian firm, for the construction of the world’s largest and most advanced tritium fuel cycle facility. The step is expected to give a strong support to future fusion reactors as tritium is a vital fuel for fusion power stations.

The collaboration also aims to jointly conduct research and development activities in the field of fusion energy.

UKAEA revealed that the tritium recovery and re-use will play a fundamental role in the supply and generation of the fuel in future fusion power plants and will be crucial in making the technology increasingly efficient.

UKAEA-Eni H3AT Tritium Loop Facility

The “UKAEA-Eni H3AT Tritium Loop Facility” is designed to serve as a world-class facility providing industry and academia the opportunity to study how to process, store and recycle tritium, according to the recent announcement.

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. This partnership combines UKAEA’s extensive expertise in fusion research and development with Eni’s established industrial-scale capabilities in plant engineering, commissioning, and operations.

H3AT demonstration plant to set a new benchmark

“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,” said professor Sir Ian Chapman, CEO of UKAEA.

“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.”

UKAEA revealed that Eni supports a socially fair energy transition with the aim of promoting efficient and progressively more sustainable access to energy resources.

Eni places innovation at the centre of its strategic vision and it has transformed the businesses by investing significantly in research, development, and the implementation of technologies to progressively decarbonising its energy mix and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, according to a press release.

Fusion to revolutionize the global energy transition path

Fusion energy is expected to be transformational to contribute to energy security and decarbonization. The 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 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,” said Claudio Descalzi, Eni CEO.

“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.”