A groundbreaking international partnership is putting Ontario at the centre of the global race for fusion energy. Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to supply tritium—produced daily at Ontario’s Darlington and Pickering nuclear stations—to support the U.K.’s world-leading fusion energy research.
Tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, is a critical fuel for fusion energy, the same process that powers the sun and stars. While naturally rare, tritium is generated as a by-product inside CANDU reactors during their daily operations. OPG is uniquely positioned in the global market as the world’s only non-military supplier of this vital isotope.
Under the agreement, tritium from Ontario will help drive the UKAEA’s STEP Fusion program, a prototype power plant designed to create energy by fusing atoms together in a high-temperature plasma held inside a spherical ‘tokamak’ reactor. If successful, this technology could revolutionize clean energy by delivering abundant, zero-carbon power.
Kim Lauritsen, OPG’s Senior Vice-President of Enterprise Strategy and Growth, said the partnership highlights Ontario’s leadership in nuclear innovation. “This agreement demonstrates how OPG is leveraging Ontario’s isotope and nuclear expertise to support and power the promise of nuclear fusion,” Lauritsen stated.
The tritium is extracted and safely stored at OPG’s Tritium Removal Facility at Darlington, the largest of its kind in the world. The deal builds on OPG’s previous role in supplying tritium to the Joint European Torus experiment, which set a world energy record for fusion in 2023.
Beyond fusion, tritium decay also produces helium-3, a rare isotope essential for quantum computing research and potentially another future fusion fuel. OPG’s broader isotope program already plays a crucial role in global health care, producing medical isotopes like Cobalt-60, Molybdenum-99, Lutetium-177, and Yttrium-90, which are used for sterilization and cancer treatment worldwide.
With this new partnership, Ontario’s nuclear sector isn’t just powering homes—it’s helping power the future of energy itself.