More plans revealed for energy site near Gainsborough where thousands of jobs could be made
New details have emerged for a world-first energy plant near Gainsborough where thousands of jobs will be created.
The £2.5bn Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) Fusion project on the former West Burton A power station is a Government-backed scheme that has been in the pipeline for several years.
The new energy plant is hoping to be the first of its kind in the world, with STEP Fusion focusing on a new type of energy replicating that of the sun.
It ultimately aims to make the UK capable of building a consistent fusion energy supply, with first operations targeted for 2040.
Some 10,000 jobs are expected to be created from the development of the site.
The wider development of the area is expected also due to an increase in business and trade in North Nottinghamshire.
In an update for the transforming site, plans have been put forward to Bassetlaw Council by UK Industrial Fusion Solutions Ltd for a new temporary modular data centre (MDC) building to be built on a car park off South Road.
Data centres are buildings that house ‘high performance computing equipment’ and servers to store data for a company.
With its ‘modular’ nature, the MDC will not be built from the ground up and will be built from prefabricated components, which allows businesses to quickly assemble data centres and strategically put the computing capacity where it is needed.
Dr Patricia Verrier, CITP, head of engineering, computing, modelling and simulation, said: “The modular data centre is a small facility that will host high performance computing systems and data infrastructure for the STEP Fusion Programme at West Burton.
“The MDC is a significant capital investment for the site and provides sovereign capability outside of the research clusters that we currently work with. It will help support future site development and operations over the next decade.
“The centre will be constructed over the summer and be operational later this year – this coincides with other technical demonstration opportunities being developed.”
In June 2025, the Government announced it would be investing £2.5m in the STEP Fusion project to be spent over five years.
One month later, a large section of the decommissioned power station was blown up to make way for the new project.
The demolition is expected to be fully completed by early 2028.