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TVA, Tennessee join forces with UK to develop nuclear fusion

Contributed photo / A rendering features the potential Infinity Two pilot fusion power plant at the former Bull Run coal plant outside Oak Ridge. Type One Energy, the developer, and TVA signed onto an agreement with Tennessee and the U.K. government on Sept. 14, 2026. Contributed photo / A rendering features the potential Infinity Two pilot fusion power plant at the former Bull Run coal plant outside Oak Ridge. Type One Energy, the developer, and TVA signed onto an agreement with Tennessee and the U.K. government on Sept. 14, 2026.

By Daniel Dassow September 14, 2026 5 min read

The state of Tennessee, the Tennessee Valley Authority and a nuclear fusion company based in the state signed a collaborative agreement with the U.K. government in London on Monday.

The goal of the agreement is to speed up commercialization of nuclear fusion, a technology that has been developed in labs for decades but has never produced electricity for the grid. Tennessee and the U.K. have positioned themselves as leaders on nuclear fusion development.

Knoxville-based Type One Energy is leading Project Infinity, an effort to build a fusion prototype and pilot power plant at a closed TVA coal-fired power plant in East Tennessee.

Type One Energy is a member of the U.K. Infinity Fusion Consortium, a partnership formed in May between the fusion company, U.K.-based Tokamak Energy and Dallas-based engineering firm AECOM to develop a fusion power plant in Britain.