UK Fusion Energy joins MTC as Tier 1 member, to spend up to £10m on R&D

UK Fusion Energy Ltd (UKFE), the UKAEA Group subsidiary responsible for delivering STEP, the UK's prototype fusion power plant at West Burton in Nottinghamshire, said on September 15, 2026 that it has become a Tier 1 member of the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) and set up a contract vehicle for STEP Fusion research and development work. The contract vehicle, the release says, provides a more flexible route to expertise across areas including advanced manufacturing, joining, materials processing, automation, digital engineering, metrology and non-destructive testing, and UKFE says it expects to spend up to £10 million (about $13.3 million at September 18, 2026 rates) through the arrangement, supporting a pipeline of R&D activity designed to strengthen manufacturing readiness for STEP Fusion. Tier 1 membership, per the release, gives UKFE representation on the MTC's Programme Board and Technology Advisory Board and access to its Core Research Programme, research outputs and network of manufacturers, technology providers and specialists.

The same release says UKFE is in the final stages of developing procurement packages for six strategic partner opportunities: systems engineering and whole plant integration, fusion plant controls, test operations, fuel cycle, breeder blankets, and an Employer's Engineering Resource Framework. It ties the interest to an event in Worksop in July 2026, which UKFE described on July 23, 2026 as a two-day Meet the Buyer event attended by hundreds of businesses. "A number of consortia are understood to be forming," the September 15 release says; it names none.

A second release, datelined September 14, 2026, announces a strategic partnership with INFINITY, the trading name of Infinity Technology Group Ltd, which is developing a 200-acre advanced manufacturing site at Infinity Park in Derby. UKFE says the partnership will allow it to help shape the site's future capabilities around STEP's needs, including manufacturing, inspection and validation of large, complex, high-integrity components using technologies such as hot isostatic pressing, power beam welding and additive manufacturing; delivering STEP, the release says, will require manufacturing and validation capabilities that "do not currently exist at sufficient scale in the UK". UKFE is the first partner to be announced by INFINITY, the release says, with further partners expected as the site develops. Neither release carries a figure for the INFINITY partnership.

Both releases fall on the two days covered by The Duck Curve's UK Fusion Week roundup, which included Kyoto Fusioneering's strategic investment of up to £3 million in the UK fusion sector, which the company says will fund a breeder blanket experiment intended to deliver progress for STEP. STEP targets first operations in the 2040s, per UKFE.