OXFORD START-UP FIRST LIGHT ACHIEVES NUCLEAR FUSION BREAKTHROUGH

Oxford-based fusion start-up First Light has claimed a major breakthrough in energy production – becoming the first to achieve nuclear fusion.

The University of Oxford fusion spin-out used its unique projectile method for the first time at its laboratory in Kidlington.

First Light’s equipment shoots a tungsten projectile out of a gas-powered gun at tremendous speed at a target dropped into a chamber.

In a fully working reactor a high-speed projectile will hit the moving target, which contains a small deuterium fuel capsule that implodes in the impact. This rapid implosion causes the fuel’s atoms to fuse, which releases a pulse of energy.

The result was independently validated by the UK Atomic Energy Authority.

Projectile fusion is a new approach to inertial fusion that is simpler, more energyefficient and has lower physics risk.

First Light has achieved fusion having spent less than £45 million, and with a rate of performance improvement faster than any other fusion scheme in history.

First Light now expects to partner with existing power producers to develop a pilot plant using its unique fusion approach.

It is working towards a pilot plant producing 150 MW of electricity and costing less than $1 billion in the 2030s.

UK’s £200 million Vaccines Manufacturing Innovation Centre bought by USA’s Catalent

A US manufacturing tech pharma company has bought the UK’s Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC), based at Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire.

Catalent plans to invest up to $160 million (£120 million) to complete the building of the facility – which is currently under construction – and equip it with state-ofthe-art capabilities for the development and manufacture of biologic therapies and vaccines, including mRNA, proteins, and other advanced modalities.

It is expected that the new facility will employ more than 400 people and support public and private organisations seeking to develop and manufacture biotherapeutics.

But campaigners against the sale protested in Oxford, saying it should have remained a national treasure to be cherished rather than being sold to the highest bidder.

VMIC was set up as a not-for-profit organisation in 2018 to provide the country’s first bespoke strategic vaccine development and manufacturing capability.

The rapidly-accelerated programme for the 7,000 square metre facility was an unprecedented collaborative effort between The Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre, Harwell Campus, Vale of the White Horse District Council, UK Research and Innovation.

St Albans-based Glencar, the main contractor, accelerated construction to bring the facility online early to provide an emergency response capability for the UK.

It was initially funded through a £67 million government grant and secured a further £131 million from the government in May 2020 and a further £47.6 million in March last year to support the expansion and acceleration of the programme.

Catalent has a long-standing presence in the UK, where its workforce already exceeds 1,300 people at its four facilities focused on development and manufacturing of oral dose forms, located in Nottingham, Swindon, Haverhill, and Dartford, in addition to a clinical trial supply site in Bathgate, Scotland.

The Catalent Biotherapeutics network also includes sites in Italy, Belgium, France, Switzerland, and the United States.