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Commonwealth Fusion Systems becomes 1st international partner in UK’s tritium breeding programme
Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) to gain early access to specialised neutron testing infrastructure at UKAEA's Culham Campus as part of Dh1 billion Librti initiative
- PUBLISHED: Wed 1 Jul 2026, 9:19 AM
The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has named Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) as the first international company to join its flagship Lithium Breeding Tritium Innovation programme (Librti), marking a significant step in global fusion energy collaboration.
CFS, described as the world's largest fusion energy company, will gain early access to world-leading infrastructure for blanket testing under the agreement, including a customised large-scale neutron source.
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Librti is a £220 million (Dh1.07 billion) UK government initiative aimed at demonstrating net tritium production – a capability considered vital for commercialising fusion energy, as it would allow fusion power plants to produce enough of this fuel component to cover their own consumption needs.
The programme is establishing a first-of-a-kind technology facility at UKAEA's Culham Campus, following the recent acquisition of a high-flux neutron source.
In a fusion power plant, a “blanket” refers to the region where neutrons generated during the fusion process strike lithium atoms, converting them into tritium – a form of hydrogen used as fusion fuel.
This production technique, known as breeding, will be tested at the new Librti facility, which will allow industry partners to develop and verify blanket technologies under conditions representative of full-scale fusion machines.
The US-based CFS is a privately-held company based that spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2018. It has raised more than $3 billion (Dh11 billion) in private capital, making it the best-funded fusion energy company in the world. The company is currently building its SPARC fusion demonstration machine and expects to generate electricity from its first ARC fusion power plant in Virginia, US, in the early 2030s.
Scope of collaboration
Under the partnership, CFS and UKAEA will jointly design the experimental setup, develop testing protocols, and conduct experiments at the Librti facility. CFS will build the test articles used in the first round of investigations.
“The UK Fusion Strategy emphasises the UK’s position as a leader in fusion research while recognising the value of continued global collaboration,” said Tim Bestwick, CEO of UKAEA.
Amanda Quadling, senior responsible officer for Librti, said partnership with CFS is a defining moment for Librti.
“Their participation adds momentum to our own efforts and accelerates the global pathway to demonstrated fusion powerplant scale technology.”
Brandon Sorbom, co-founder and chief science officer at CFS, said: “Librti’s specialised testing capabilities will allow us to demonstrate net tritium production and increase confidence in our ARC blanket system design. Through this collaboration, CFS will gain hands-on experience engineering and building blanket systems directly representative of our commercial fusion power plant. We're thrilled to partner with UKAEA and the Librti team as an early user.”
“It's an incredible moment for the fusion industry that we're building the capability to investigate the performance of blankets in a fusion-relevant environment. We look forward to this collaboration with the UKAEA and Librti,” said Heena Mutha, director of fuel cycle and blanket technology at CFS.
