As ITER moves closer to first plasma, the megaproject’s sprawling fabrication and supply-chain network increasingly is shaping the future of commercial fusion construction.
California firm founders, including two US Energy Dept. veterans, aim to scale laser-based inertial confinement fusion technology to develop a grid-scale power plant, with $450M just gained from private investors.
The social media company's $6B merger with a nuclear fusion developer may bring new investment in the technology, but any construction is still a ways off.
Project development, estimated to occur in the early-to-mid 2030s, will be based on design used in the U.S. Energy Dept. breakthrough effort last December that successfully demonstrated laser fusion power with energy gain.
Lawrence Livermore National Lab team successfully produced more nuclear fusion energy than it took to start the reaction using lasers, U.S. Energy Dept. officials said Dec. 13, with more private and academic competition underway to shorten timeframes to commercialize power generation.
A nuclear fusion startup led by scientists at MIT announces a major advance that the team believes could pave the way for the world’s first commercial fusion power reactor by the end of the decade.