Material Challenges for Commercial Fusion

Monday, 15 June 2026

The UK Government’s 2026 Fusion Strategy describes the UK’s pathway to commercialisation of fusion energy, highlighting the investment required to accelerate growth of the UK fusion industry, and support for fusion skills development alongside continued scientific and engineering leadership in fusion technologies. Whilst there have been significant advances made in the development of fusion power, there are still scientific and engineering challenges that need to be solved to realise commercial fusion. Many of those challenges relate to the materials to be used in the construction of fusion power stations. For example, the energetic particles produced during fusion will collide with materials, changing their internal structure and chemical composition, which ultimately changes the performance of those materials in operation. In magnetic confinement fusion, the strong magnets used are easily affected by fusion radiation, so we must develop ways to protect the magnets or develop materials that are more tolerant to that radiation. Furthermore, a key component for commercial fusion is the breeding blanket where tritium, one of the primary fuels for fusion, will be produced. However, there is still no global consensus on the best tritium producing materials to use, nor the materials required to contain the fuel components.

In this talk, key material challenges for magnetic confinement fusion, and what needs to be done to solve those challenges, will be described. Specifically, the need for continued development of radiation damage tolerant and high temperature performing materials that can be used in the construction of the fusion core, neutron shielding to protect the magnets, and the tritium breeding blanket.