Learn more about fusion plant plans at Gainsborough event

The aim of this event is to share information with anyone in the community who is interested in the proposals for the West Burton site, the future home of STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production), a protype fusion energy powerplant.

This event will also be the first time the team has shared its draft masterplan, which shows how the site might be used in the long term.

There will be an opportunity for discussion on the masterplan, with feedback encouraged to inform the team’s thinking at this early stage of the process.

In addition, members of the STEP technical team will lead live and interactive ‘what is fusion?’ sessions in the auditorium.

During these sessions the team will take questions from the audience and will also include a session on potential future supplier opportunities.

The STEP community event is taking place on Wednesday, June 14, at the Trinity Arts Centre in Gainsborough, from 3pm to 7pm and there is no need to register in advance.

Paul Methven, STEP’s programme director, said: “We’re looking forward to getting out into the community and share our plans for the West Burton site.

“We have an action-packed agenda planned for the event in Gainsborough and are excited to invite people to come along and meet the team and find out more about fusion and the STEP programme.”

The event will close with a screening of the documentary ‘STAR MAKERS: The Energy of Tomorrow’.

This film follows the lives of the engineers and scientists working at UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), which is leading the project, as they overcome challenges in their attempt to achieve a world record in sustained fusion energy.

The West Burton site was selected for the pioneering project, ahead of 15 other shortlisted locations across the UK and it could be built by 2040.

UKAEA said fusion offers an ‘inherently safe and virtually limitless’ energy source and produces zero greenhouse gas emissions and no waste products.