The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has commissioned two 3D printing systems—an electron beam machine from Swedish manufacturer Freemelt, and a laser-based system from metal 3D printer manufacturer Nikon SLM Solutions—at its newly launched Central Support Facility (CSF) to produce advanced components for future fusion power plants.
“Fusion represents the future of energy – but it can only be realized through bold innovation and trusted collaboration. At Nikon SLM Solutions, we are proud to support UKAEA’s mission with our industry-leading Selective Laser Melting technology, helping make complex, high-performance fusion components not just possible, but scalable. With this milestone, we move one step closer to commercial fusion – and a more sustainable tomorrow,” said Christoph Barefoot, Regional Business Director UK & Nordics, Nikon SLM Solutions.
Complementary Technologies: Electron Beam and Laser Melting
The two machines installed at the CSF use distinct yet complementary additive manufacturing techniques. One is Freemelt’s eMELT Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion (E-PBF) system, which uses electron beams to fuse tungsten powder into nearly fully dense parts. It will allow UKAEA to layer tungsten onto fusion-relevant materials such as copper chrome zirconium, stainless steel, and Eurofer 97—a steel developed specifically for fusion applications.
The second system, the SLM280 Selective Laser Melting machine, developed by Nikon SLM and provided by Kingsbury Machine Tools with support from metal additive manufacturing company Additure, will enable the fabrication of components with highly complex geometries and mixed material compositions, which are essential within fusion reactors.
These 3D printing systems will be used to create plasma-facing components—parts exposed to intense heat during operation—while minimizing the need for traditional joining processes like welding. This streamlining reduces manufacturing steps and enhances overall efficiency.
“Fusion power plants will require thousands – or even millions – of components with complex geometries that can withstand the extreme conditions of a fusion environment. Additive manufacturing will be essential to developing these components at a scale that makes fusion commercially viable. Having both electron beam and selective laser technologies under one roof—and capable of production-scale output—is a first for the fusion industry,” said Roy Marshall, UKAEA’s Head of Operations for Fabrication, Installation and Maintenance.
Next Steps: Toward Scalable Production
UKAEA is now actively working to equip industrial partners for the large-scale, precision manufacturing needed to realize large fusion energy. The newly deployed 3D printing systems will initiate production of components with intricate geometries and support experimental studies into the behavior of additively manufactured materials. Early manufacturing trials will focus on layering tungsten with copper chrome zirconium—materials critical for fusion reactors.
Global Efforts in Fusion Energy
Recently, engineers at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) in the U.S. announced they are preparing for the assembly of the fusion research device National Spherical Torus Experiment-Upgrade (NSTX-U) expected to begin operations in 2026. To ensure precise alignment of components, they have created over 50 3D printed prototypes. Central to the NSTX-U is a magnet bundle that combines a 19 ft. toroidal field (TF) magnet with an ohmic heating (OH) coil.
Last month, Italian energy research agency ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) published new results showing how finely-architected precisely engineered additively manufactured foams behave when struck by high-power nanosecond laser pulses. Described in a 4 June 2025 arXiv pre-print by Mattia Cipriani et al., the work pairs experiments on ENEA’s 40 J “ABC” Nd:glass laser at the Frascati Research Centre, Italy, with full 3D FLASH radiation-hydrodynamics simulations to quantify ablation speeds and laser-scattering mechanisms critical to future inertial-confinement-fusion (ICF) target design.
ICF is a method of achieving nuclear fusion by using intense energy bursts (usually lasers or particle beams) to rapidly compress and heat a small fuel pellet, typically made of deuterium and tritium, two isotopes of hydrogen.
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Featured image shows UKAEA has begun using two additive manufacturing machines: Freemelt’s eMELT electron beam powder bed fusion machine and the SLM280 selective laser melting machine. Photo via UKAEA.
