The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) welcomed British musician, comedian and television star, Bill Bailey, to its Culham Campus to explore the vital research being undertaken to advance fusion as a sustainable source of energy for future generations.

The Strictly Come Dancing Glitterball Trophy winner visited UKAEA’s campus in Oxfordshire, after mentioning fusion during his ‘Thoughtifier’ stand-up tour. Spotted in the audience, UKAEA’s Executive Director for Engineering and Computing, Dr Joe Milnes, invited Mr Bailey to see fusion’s research and development in action.

Mr Bill Bailey, said:

The central premise of this show (‘Thoughtifier’) is celebrating human endeavour and the constant ingenuity of humans. I talk about it in terms of human evolution, about discovering music, and one of those fields is also fusion. It felt like a natural fit to put fusion into the show and to ask the members of the audience what they feel about it.

I’ve noticed a change over the past year and half where, every time I mention fusion, there has been a gradual uptick in people’s awareness of it. When I say, ‘We need to find a solution to the world’s energy needs, what about fusion?’, there are cheers from the crowd.

My visit to UKAEA was fascinating and eye-opening, and amazing to hear about how our understanding of fusion is progressing. Seeing all this being done in the English countryside gave me a huge surge of patriotic pride, and enormous hope for the future.

Dr Joe Milnes, Executive Director for Engineering and Computing, UKAEA, said:

I’ve always been a big fan of Bill’s, particularly his sense of humour combined with his obvious fascination with how the world works.

Spending a few hours with Bill, showing him all the incredible things happening at UKAEA, revealed how excited he is about fusion and other endeavours where humans can demonstrate their incredible problem-solving abilities.

Fusion promises to be a safe, low carbon and sustainable part of the world’s future energy supply. It has the potential to provide ‘base load’ power, complementing renewable and other low carbon energy sources.

During his visit, Mr Bailey toured UKAEA’s MAST-Upgrade and the Joint European Torus (JET) facilities and recorded a fireside chat with Dr Joe Milnes.