“Cluster 3”: A specialist group of the SFIA (Swiss Fusion Industry Association)
Cluster 3 — Fuel Cycle Management

Material Science & Supply Chain for the Fusion Industry

Switzerland combines tritium expertise grown out of its watchmaking industry with highly specialized suppliers in mechanical engineering, materials processing and engineering — Cluster 3 bundles that offering into a single point of contact.

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Custom or in series: solutions for the fusion industry

Switzerland is home to a tritium-processing industry that historically grew out of its watchmaking industry. With many highly specialized companies in mechanical engineering, materials processing and engineering, it offers extraordinary capability as a supplier. Cluster 3 brings together the specialized companies working in fusion research and, where possible, offers a single point of contact — or coordinates customer enquiries professionally and confidentially.

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What Cluster 3 covers

Fuel Cycle Management for the Fusion Industry

Every fusion power plant runs deuterium and tritium in a loop: injecting it, burning it in the plasma, recovering unused gas and newly bred tritium, reprocessing it, and injecting it again. Cluster 3 covers every stage of this cycle with specialized Swiss industry.

Good to know: Cluster 3 can't offer every solution and product itself — but it is networked closely enough that, together with industry and research, it can usually offer an optimal solution. Contact us today.

What is a fusion fuel cycle?
D + TPlasmaInject Fuel — Injecting deuterium-tritium fuel into the plasma — as a pellet, gas puff, or neutral-beam stream.INStore Fuel — Intermediate storage of fuel in getter beds and cryogenic systems, ready for the next injection.STManage Hydrogen Isotopes — Separating and reprocessing hydrogen isotopes from the recovered cycle gas.MHRecover Trace Tritium — Recovering trace tritium from containment and building air.RTRecover Bred Tritium — Recovering tritium newly bred in the blanket.RBPump Unused Fuel — Pumping unused fuel out of the torus.PURemove and Process Impurities — Removing and reprocessing impurities before fuel returns to the cycle.RI
Inject Fuel

Injecting deuterium-tritium fuel into the plasma — as a pellet, gas puff, or neutral-beam stream.

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The Core Materials

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Protium
practically unlimited
Most abundant element in the universe

Most common hydrogen isotope, a reference quantity in the fuel cycle

Deuterium
practically unlimited
~33 mg/l in seawater

The second fusion fuel

Tritium
~20 kg
Estimated world reserve

The actual fusion fuel

Helium-3
extremely rare
No economical source on Earth

Rare isotope, candidate for aneutronic fusion

Lithium-6
limited
Li-6 world reserve (isotopically pure)

The feedstock for tritium breeding

Lithium-7
~28 million t
Total world lithium reserves (~92% as Li-7)

Carrier medium for FLiBe coolant loops

Beryllium
~480 t
Global annual production

Neutron multiplier in the blanket

Tungsten
~100,000 t
Global annual production

Blanket shell material

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Where Cluster 3 comes together

Including the Fusion Fuel Cycle Workshop by smolsys at SOFT 2026 — one example of Cluster 3 activities.

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Uniquely specialized knowledge, worldwide, networked

Cluster 3 connects Swiss research institutions with specialized industry know-how across the entire fuel-cycle value chain.

University of Basel — AI and SimulationsUBEMPA — Metallurgy (Cluster 6) — DübendorfEMETH Zurich — Lithium — SINQ++ testsETPSI — Neutron source, tritium blanket labs — VilligenPSHSLU — Verification & process — HorwHSCERN — Beryllium lab — MeyrinCEsmolsys — Tritium / handling — Root, LUSM
SMsmolsys
UBUniversity of Basel
EMEMPA
ETETH Zurich
PSPSI
HSHSLU
CECERN

Relative Positionen entsprechen realen Koordinaten — als Beziehungsdiagramm gedacht, nicht als vermessungsgenaue Karte.

University of Basel
AI and Simulations
EMPA
Metallurgy (Cluster 6)
ETH Zurich / PSI
Lithium — SINQ++ tests, neutron source
PSI / HSLU
Tritium blanket labs — verification & process
CERN
Beryllium lab
smolsys
Tritium / handling specialist

In the thick of it, or just watching?

Switzerland is internationally in “pole position” when it comes to handling fusion fuel — but the race has already begun. We can still decide, in the short term, whether to take part or just watch. The future needs your support.

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Sources: “Fusion Fuel Cluster 3 Präsentation” (smolsys AG / MC&P, 2026); “Fuel Cycle Technology Mapping 2025” (Fusion for Energy / EUROfusion, v2.1, July 2025).