The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), supported by The Henry Royce Institute, has published an updated version of the UK Fusion Materials Roadmap, extending the breadth of key materials challenges that need to be solved for the world to achieve sustainable fusion energy.
Since the publication of the first UK Fusion Materials Roadmap in 2021, there have been significant advances in fusion materials development, and substantial progress made in UK and global fusion programmes. However, the field is wide, and as powerplant programmes explore engineering subsystems in more depth, definition of the materials needs improves and expands.
This important collaborative effort:
- Identifies the facilities, skills, and capabilities required to tackle key challenges
- Highlights cross-cutting themes common to multiple areas of research
- Showcases how solutions can be accelerated through national user facilities and collaborative research
A group of leading UK-based researchers, supported by an expert editorial board, shaped this collective knowledge into a comprehensive document outlining both the scale of the challenges and the potential pathways to address them.
A key takeaway is that many of these challenges have direct synergies with fission, aerospace, defence, and beyond – offering opportunities for greater cross-sector collaboration.
Since the roadmap’s completion in April 2025, fusion has continued to accelerate, most notably with the UK government’s record £2.5 billion investment into UK fusion research over the next five years.
Researchers, industry partners, and innovators from across all sectors are invited to engage with this roadmap and help build the foundation for clean, sustainable fusion energy.
Professor Amy Gandy, Head of Materials Science and Engineering at UKAEA, said:
“As with the first version of this Roadmap in 2021, we aim to enable potential collaborators to engage with the fusion community in an informed way.
“The Roadmap emphasises the technical challenges and highlights the specific facilities and infrastructure required to achieve commercial fusion.
“We want to work with people who may not currently work in fusion, but who have skills and expertise in adjacent areas that can be applied to solve these challenges and make sustainable fusion energy a commercial reality for future generations.”
Professor David Knowles, Royce CEO, added:
“Major materials strategies, such as this important Fusion Roadmap, are vital to the materials sector – not only to provide clear direction for collective research and innovation, but also to highlight the synergies across different markets.
“This is exactly the type of initiative the Henry Royce Institute is committed to supporting. It will no doubt prove invaluable in guiding EPSRC, wider funding bodies, and industry on where their support can have the greatest impact.”
The UK Fusion Materials Roadmap is available here
