Fusion

Over the past decade, fusion energy has moved decisively from scientific aspiration toward a credible pathway to a new energy technology. Thanks to long-term federal support, we have significantly advanced our fundamental understanding of plasma physics—the behavior of the superheated gases at the heart of fusion devices. This knowledge will enable the creation and control of fusion fuel under conditions required for future power plants. Our progress is exemplified by breakthroughs at the National Ignition Facility and the Joint European Torus.

Two start-ups working to commercialize fusion energy made headlines last week. Helion Energy announced that its Polaris prototype fusion energy machine recently demonstrated measurable deuterium-tritium fusion and achieved a plasma temperature of 150 million degrees Celsius (MºC). Newcomer Inertia Enterprises announced that it has raised $450 million in its Series A fundraising round.

Members of the Pacific Fusion team pose in front of the Z Pulsed Power Facility at Sandia National Laboratories. (Photo: Pacific Fusion)

California-based Pacific Fusion, in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories, has reported “removing a significant roadblock to practical fusion power at scale” by achieving pulser-driven inertial confinement fusion (ICF) with a simpler, less expensive approach than previously used.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has designed a model to help assess the economic impact of future fusion power plant operations—specifically, the operation of inertial fusion energy (IFE) power plants. Further, it has made its Generalized Economics Model (GEM) for Fusion Technology—an Excel spreadsheet—available for download.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems makes no small plans. The company wants to build a 400-MWe magnetic confinement fusion power plant called ARC near Richmond, Va., and begin operating it in the early 2030s. And the plans don’t end there. CFS wants to deploy “thousands” of fusion power plants capable of accelerating a global energy transition.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has announced a partnership with Japan’s Kyoto Fusioneering to develop technology for speeding the deployment of commercial fusion energy through the creation of a breeding blanket test facility. The lab said that the partnership will “leverage ORNL’s expertise in supercomputing, advanced manufacturing, materials science, and fusion research, and complement KF’s UNITY test facilities.”

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory is leading a new initiative with the goal of using AI technology to accelerate the development of fusion energy research through high-fidelity computer simulations. The project includes national laboratories, universities, technology companies, and other partners.

Simulation, Technology, and Experiment Leveraging Learning-Accelerated Research enabled by AI (STELLAR-AI) has been developed as part of the Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission, which was established by presidential executive order last year to speed up the application of AI in scientific research.

Yesterday, Oak Ridge National Laboratory announced that it is in the process of partnering with Type One Energy and the University of Tennessee–Knoxville. That partnership will have one primary goal: to establish a high-heat flux facility (HHF) at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Bull Run Energy Complex in Clinton, Tenn.

Trump Media & Technology Group, the American media and technology company majority owned by President Trump, and California-based fusion company TAE Technologies, announced on Thursday the signing of a definitive merger agreement to combine in an all-stock transaction valued at more than $6 billion.

Fusion technology company Thea Energy announced this week that it has completed the preconceptual design of its fusion power plant, called Helios. According to the company, Helios is “the first stellarator fusion power plant architecture that is realistic to build and operate with hardware that is available today, and that is tolerant to the rigors of manufacturing, construction, long-term operation, and maintenance of a commercial device.”

A new report from the F4E Fusion Observatory highlights the robust growth of investments in private companies that are developing fusion energy technologies. The report, Global Investment in the Private Fusion Sector, is an updated release of a previous F4E Fusion Observatory report, published “in response to the unprecedented acceleration of investments in fusion companies since June 2025, which are consolidating fusion as a fast-growing emerging market.”

Global funding: According to the report, the cumulative global funding in private fusion companies between June and September 2025 increased from €9.9 billion to €13 billion (about $11.6 billion to $15.17 billion). Funding for the private fusion sector in September was more than eight times greater than in 2020. The report also identifies 77 companies that are in the “fusion private ecosystem.”

Fusion energy for commercial use is a technology that is yet to be realized, but one company is already setting its sights on taking it from land to sea.

The University of California, through its Initiative for Fusion Energy, has awarded $8 million in multicampus research grants, in partnership with UC-managed national laboratories, to fund research aimed at accelerating progress toward fusion energy.

Canada’s Fusion Fuel Cycles Inc. (FFC), a joint venture between Canadian Nuclear Laboratories and Japan’s Kyoto Fusioneering, announced that it has officially entered the construction phase of its flagship project, the Unique Integrated Testing Facility (UNITY-2), at CNL’s Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario.

Curtis

Cantwell

Sens. Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.) and John Curtis (R., Utah) have introduced a bill that would enable nuclear fusion energy technologies to have access to the federal advanced manufacturing production tax credit.

The companion version of the bill was introduced in the House by Reps. Carol Miller (R., W.Va.), Suzan DelBene (D., Wash.), Claudia Tenney (R., N.Y.), and Don Beyer (D., Va.)

The Fusion Advanced Manufacturing Parity Act extends the federal advanced manufacturing production credit (45X) by adding a 25 percent tax credit for companies that are domestically manufacturing fusion energy components.

In the report Fusion Forward: Powering America’s Future issued earlier this month by the Special Competitive Studies Project’s (SCSP) Commission on the Scaling of Fusion Energy, it warns that the United States is on the verge of losing the fusion power race to China.

Noting that China has invested at least $6.5 billion in its fusion enterprise since 2023, almost three times the funding received by the U.S. Department of Energy’s fusion program over the same period, the commission report urges the U.S. government to prioritize the rapid commercialization of fusion energy to secure U.S. national security and restore American energy leadership.

SCSP is a nonpartisan, nonprofit initiative making recommendations to strengthen America’s long-term competitiveness in emerging technologies. Launched in fall 2024, the 13-member commission is led by Sens. Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.) and Jim Risch (R., Idaho), along with SCSP president and commission co-chair Ylli Bajraktari.

Helical Fusion, a Japan-based fusion start-up that is developing a stellarator fusion power reactor, has announced it has successfully demonstrated its high-temperature superconducting (HTS) coil under relevant magnetic conditions.

A video highlighting the stellarator’s technology testing can be found here.

The Department of Energy introduced a Fusion Science & Technology (S&T) Roadmap on October 16 as a national “Build–Innovate–Grow” strategy to develop and commercialize fusion energy by the mid-2030s by aligning public investment and private innovation. Hailed by Darío Gil, the DOE’s new undersecretary for science, as bringing “unprecedented coordination across America's fusion enterprise” and advancing President Trump’s January 2025 executive order, “Unleashing American Energy,” the road map echoes plans issued by the DOE’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) in 2023 and 2024, with a new emphasis on the convergence of AI and fusion.

The road map release coincided with other fusion energy events held this week in Washington, D.C., and beyond.

The Tennessee Valley Authority has issued a letter of intent to fusion energy start-up Type One Energy regarding the utility’s interest in the potential deployment of Type One Energy’s fusion power plant technology at TVA’s former Bull Run fossil plant site once it is commercially ready.

General Atomics last week celebrated the completion of the central solenoid modules for the ITER reactor being built in southern France. Designed to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion power, the ITER tokamak will be the world’s largest experimental fusion facility.