The UK has ruled out rejoining ITER, the world's most ambitious nuclear fusion project

The United Kingdom declined an invitation to participate in the ITER nuclear fusion project after losing direct access to the project due to Brexit.

ITER is one of the world's largest nuclear fusion projects operated by the European Union (EU).

After the United Kingdom agreed to work on ITER last year, now The British reject this option.

Built in France until (hopefully) 2025, the project is financed by the European Union, but also by foreign countries such as China, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea, USA.

Initially, the United Kingdom was also part of the project, but Business “collapsed” with Brexit And will not rise again.

The British Minister for Nuclear Energy and Networks confirmed New Scientist The decision not to “reintegrate” the United Kingdom saves €759 million, which can be used to fund a mix of private and public research.

“It's the right decision. Reunification will divert time, resources and money away from where we want to take our merger plans. It's not an ideological decision, it's a Practical decision”, said Andrew Bowie.

According to the New Scientist details, the United Kingdom wants to focus on internal projects, for example, building a nuclear fusion power plant. According to (Spherical Tokamak for Power Generation).

With European leaders, ITER cannot rely on British contributions.

“The Commission and the Council of the European Union, in a joint statement, noted with regret that the United Kingdom has decided not to join the Euratom project and Fusion for Energy”, lamented Elena Righi, one of those responsible. Project cited by New Scientist.

“For the next period starting in 2028, the EU institutions strongly call on the UK to participate in all European Commission fusion research projects. This will truly allow the European fusion community to continue its concerted efforts and resolve the current ambiguous membership of UKAEA. [Autoridade de Energia Atómica do Reino Unido] In EUROfusion [o grupo de pesquisa de fusão europeu] and permit a Greater UK involvement in the construction and final operation of ITER“, he considered.