Fusion machinations

The Energy Department yesterday announced a joint effort with the U.K. to collaborate on fusion research.

Why it matters: It could accelerate the materials and modeling advancements the nascent industry says it needs to commercialize and juice investments on Capitol Hill.

Driving the news: The partnership aims to coordinate R&D efforts and build the supply chains the industry would need in the future.

Of note: Andrew Bowie, the U.K.'s minister for nuclear and networks, was in town yesterday to meet with Deputy Secretary David Turk and Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, one of the Hill's biggest fusion enthusiasts.

• "I think this is incredibly important. And it is the beginning ... building on years of work going on behind the scenes," Bowie told Axios.
• Fleischmann said it could bolster the bipartisan efforts he's leading on the Hill to pump money into fusion.
• U.K. lawmakers, he noted, "share very strong fiscal constraints like we do."