How the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is powering the future through project excellence 

The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) is at the forefront of one of the most ambitious scientific pursuits of our time. Its aim is to harness the power of fusion energy, which has the potential to provide abundant, safe and sustainable power, and change the landscape of energy generation for the future. 

This ambition to change the way people power their homes has been likened to ‘seeking to put the sun in a box’.  

To achieve this, UKAEA has a project delivery team that is underpinning a diverse and first-of-its-kind portfolio of work.

On a tour of the Oxfordshire facility in May 2025, staff from Association for Project Management (APM) learned how UKAEA embedded project management across their diverse portfolio. The tour included visits to:
•    Remote Applications in Challenging Environments (RACE) centre
•    Materials Research Facility (MRF)
•    A future tritium fuel cycle facility
•    The Joint European Torus (JET) - an iconic fusion machine now in its decommissioning phase. 

The approach and framework applied at UKAEA illustrate the impact and importance good project management has, irrespective of the undertaking. 

Sarah Ridder, Head of Portfolio Management Office (head of P3M profession) at UKAEA shared her insights of factors that are driving project success at the authority.  

How has having a sponsor at the C-Suite level helped?
“The project profession can be a misunderstood discipline, but what it's doing is accelerating delivery through the balance of technical elements, leadership, strategy, and keeping a delivery team inspired. 

“At UKAEA, having a sponsor for the project profession at the C-Suite level has helped phenomenally. It has shaped that narrative from the top of the organisation for the profession. In an organisation with a delivery portfolio as diverse as UKAEA’s, this has been pivotal.”

How does a single framework support such a diverse portfolio?
“We have a very diverse portfolio at UKAEA spanning hundreds of projects which range from building brand-new buildings to first-of its-kind scientific R&D (research and development). They also range in size and complexity, so it’s not a one-size-fits-all framework. We designed and launched the Delivery Life Cycle Framework (DLC) in 2023 and use a champion-challenger model to ensure it remains fit for purpose. We aligned it to the APM Body of Knowledge and a lot of what we do looks at that as good practice and asks, ‘does it make sense?’. As we are an Arm's Length Body of Government, we also track our maturity in the project discipline using the Government Functional Standard for Project Delivery.

“In terms of the diverse portfolio at UKAEA, one key question the framework addresses, is ‘what is the best life cycle to deliver a project?’ and, in turn, ‘what level of project controls to apply?’. For instance, building a new building with well-understood requirements would adopt a linear lifecycle and a high level of project controls, and designing a new piece of software would adopt Agile (iterative) life cycle. Whereas to push the boundaries of science, you need to create a project delivery environment that has the right culture and mindset that enables and empowers world-leading researchers to do R&D; for these types of projects we use an evolutionary life cycle with a sensible light level of controls. 

“So, in terms of how we look at a framework for such a diverse portfolio, we designed one that is flexible, scalable and common sense for the project profession. 

“Where this gets complex is at a programme level where you’re doing first-of-its-kind R&D which you don’t know what it looks like yet and, at the same time, building a building [to house it]. We’ve learnt that a central part of delivering these types of programmes is managing the boundary between those projects as the culture and mindsets within each are very different to enable them to thrive and deliver, yet there is a degree of dependencies which need to be managed and flexibility/future-proofing that needs to be woven into facilities.”

How has APM supported you? 
“We're on the maturity journey as an organisation and I say that because we've grown at a rate of knots. APM has been so helpful in that journey. 

“We're an APM Corporate Partner. That has enabled us at key moments in time to call out to the other Corporate Partners and say ‘oh, we're a bit stuck, has anybody else tried this? Has anyone else grappled with this?’ and have good conversations with other corporates at pivotal moments to help shape our thinking and what we do next. 

“Thinking about all the time and commitments we put into this new delivery life cycle – it's also about giving back. 

“So, I spend some of my time, when calls come in, supporting other Corporate Partners talking about what we’ve done and sharing learning. It accelerates both of our journeys because inevitably I come away with better knowledge too.”

To find out more about the work at UKAEA visit: ccfe.ukaea.uk