The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has put out a tender for a new supercomputer at a retired nuclear fusion research laboratory.
The tender, published on July 16, is seeking a partner for what it calls a "Mission-led AI & Simulation Supercomputing Centre" at the UKAEA's Culham Campus in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.
First reported by The Stack, the Culham Campus was previously used as a European fusion research lab known as the Joint European Torus (JET).
JET was retired at the end of last year after 40 years of operations, with its final project being an experiment that broke the world record for generating the most energy by a fusion machine - 69 megajoules over five seconds.
The site will now become the home for fusion energy start-ups, as well as "large-scale data centers in support of the unprecedented growth in the AI/ Tech and adjacent sectors."
According to the tender, the Culham Campus currently has power supplies capable of delivering 575MW of peak capacity and 144MW of steady-state capacity due to upgrades planned by the National Grid by mid-2026.
The tender adds: "UKAEA is considering releasing land and its reconfigured power connections to both its 132kV and 400kV UK electricity grids for the explicit purpose of growing a cluster of facilities and tenant organizations to accelerate the UK’s mission to deliver fusion power to grid in the 2040s.
"With digital technologies at the heart of the UK’s fusion strategy, UKAEA is evaluating how this newly available land and infrastructure might be used in partnership with industry (including other commercial or service sectors) to deliver a mission-led AI & Simulation center, potentially adjacent to other use cases (either Government led or commercial) – ideally with a focus upon driving near term economic growth and longer-term economic opportunities towards Net Zero."
The campus has a range of green and brownfield sites available, with plots varying in size from 4,000 sqm (43,056 sq ft) to 38,000 sqm (409,030 sq ft).
The tender says that the opportunity may be of interest to data center hosting organizations, cloud service providers, industrial HPC/AI users, and OEMs within the HPC supply chain.
The UKAEA will host a 1:1 session for interested parties on August 15.
The closing down of JET was somewhat complicated by the UK's decision to exit the EU (Brexit), and difficulty in finding a deal. In 2023, more than 750 people signed a petition to prevent the closing of JET, but it went ahead regardless.
The research lab is now set to be replaced by the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in France, which will open in the mid-2030s and will be the largest fusion reactor in the world. The UK is not currently part of ITER, though industry figures are urging the newly instated Labour government to take action to further Britain's role in nuclear fusion research.
The UK is currently aiming to have a commercial grid-ready fusion reactor by 2040.
In June 2023, the UKAEA and Cambridge University created a digital twin of the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) prototype fusion power plant, which is scheduled to create a "burning plasma" by 2035, and net electricity production by 2040. STEP research takes place at the Culham Campus.
OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman said in early 2024 that an energy "breakthrough" would be necessary to advance AI models, such as nuclear fusion generators. Since then, OpenAI partner Microsoft has signed a 50MW fusion PPA with Helion for 2028, and OpenAI was reportedly in talks to purchase fusion energy from Helion to power its data centers, having previously invested $375m into the company.
