The town of Didcot, known for its railway heritage (the railway station opened as part of the Great Western Main Line in 1844), and 15 miles south of Oxford, is home to several scientific hubs for the UK.
These include the Harwell Campus.
The CCFE (Culham Centre for Fusion Energy) is also in the vicinity where the Joint European Torus (JET) is located. Culham's aim is to bring fusion energy to the grid. Fusion consists of fusing light nuclei to form heavier nuclei, at the same time releasing energy. The Culham approach is to heat a combination of hydrogen gases (deuterium and tritium) to very high temperatures (over 100 million degrees Celcius) to turn the gas into plasma. Nuclei combine to form a helium nucleus and a neutron, a small fraction of the mass is converted to energy. A ring-shaped magnetic chamber called a 'tokamak' is used to control the plasma.
More details on science facility development in the UK can be found on the UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) dedicated site.
