When the patent had still not been granted in early 1948, the Ministry of Supply inquired about Thomson's intentions. Thomson explained the problems he had getting a program started and that he did not want to hand off the rights until that was clarified. As the directors of the UK nuclear program, the Ministry quickly forced Harwell's hand to provide funding for Thomson's program. Thomson then released his rights the patent, which was granted late that year. Cockcroft also funded Thonemann's work, and with that, the UK fusion program began in earnest. After the news furor over the Huemul Project in February 1951, significant funding was released and led to rapid growth of the program in the early 1950s, and ultimately to the ZETA reactor of 1958.