The Sun is the ultimate fusion machine, endlessly smashing atoms together and creating power. For decades, physicists have struggled to create fusion on Earth in a reliable, cost-effective manner. If successful, it would unlock an unlimited source of safe, clean energy — the so-called “Holy Grail” of renewable power.
Now, more than half a century since this work began, many in the field say they’re close to reaching this goal — and the Pacific Northwest is emerging as one of the few fusion hubs worldwide.
“The Seattle area has all the right ingredients to lead fusion into the future.”
CleanTech Alliance recently hosted Seattle Fusion Week, an event that attracted national officials and featured four of the area’s five fusion companies: Washington state’s Helion Energy, Zap Energy, CTFusion and Avalanche Energy. The fifth, General Fusion, is based in British Columbia.
The University of Washington and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory also provide fusion expertise and research.
“[U.S. Department of Energy] and its predecessors have supported fusion patiently for more than 70 years. But I believe it is close to paying off big.” said Scott Hsu, a DOE senior advisor and lead fusion coordinator, addressing Fusion Week attendees.
“The Seattle area has all the right ingredients to lead fusion into the future,” he added. “You are a fusion hub, whether you know it or not.”
Sally Benson, an energy leader with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, also attended the event and praised the Pacific Northwest.
“I’ve seen the future of clean energy here in this area,” Benson said. “I can’t imagine a more vibrant and welcoming community for nurturing this nascent industry.”
Tempering that excitement are the big hurdles that lie ahead.
Over the next decade, fusion companies are building what they hope will be final practice rounds with prototype and demonstration projects. With these projects, their goals are to hit “breakeven” or “Q=1,” which means they’re producing as much power as it takes to create fusion. Some are striving for “net electricity,” meaning they can capture more electricity to put on the power grid than they’re using to produce fusion.
If all goes well, the next generation of devices should provide sufficient proof — often as a combination of actual results and computer modeling — before companies start building commercial fusion machines. The most ambitious are aiming to start producing power commercially in the early 2030s.
On the permitting side, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission next week is holding an eagerly awaited briefing on potential licensing requirements and regulations for the sector.
Industry insiders are confident that multiple companies could eventually reach net electricity, but the ability to commercialize the technology could be the deciding factor of success.
“That’s who wins the fusion race,” said Derek Sutherland, co-founder and CEO of Seattle’s CTFusion.
Pushing fusion forward
To create fusion, one must first generate a plasma — a superheated gas and the most energetic of the four states of matter — where two nuclei smash into each other, forming a new atom and releasing energy. Plasmas are created in a wide variety of devices that can reach temperatures hotter than the sun and must contain the reactions for a sufficient amount of time. The energy given off by the reactions is captured and converted into electricity.
There are many upsides to fusion. Unlike fission — its nuclear power counterpart — fusion devices don’t risk meltdowns. Compared to fission, fusion fuels are more readily available, the reactions do not create materials that could be weaponized and it does not result in significant hazardous waste. The devices can create massive amounts of energy in a much smaller footprint than solar and wind power farms.
In the past couple of years, the government and investors have become increasingly bullish on fusion.
In September, DOE announced a new $50 million program to support private companies. This summer’s Inflation Reduction Act includes $280 million for DOE support of fusion equipment and construction projects.
For venture capital, 2021 was a record-setting year in fusion with nearly $3 billion in investments across 15 deals worldwide, according to PitchBook. This year, $654.7 million was invested through the end of October.
Helion has garnered the biggest investments in the Northwest, with $572 million in venture funding and facilities in Everett and Redmond, Wash. The 9-year-old company is building its seventh fusion device prototype, which it hopes will demonstrate net electricity in 2024. If it hits that goal, it will be the first company to do so.
"We're on the cusp of proving big stuff," said Scott Krisiloff, Helion's chief business officer, during a recent tour of the company's facilities.
General Fusion, which has raised more than $300 million over its two decades, is building a demonstration device on the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Agency’s Culham Campus. The company was one of the first in the sector and its team is confident, while still acknowledging the challenges ahead.
“We’re really going to be able to benefit from the long time we’ve been around," said Mike Donaldson, General Fusion's vice president of fusion island engineering. "We’ve got the path to commercialization."
Here are profiles of the five fusion companies in the Pacific Northwest.
Helion Energy
- Location: Everett and Redmond, Wash.
- Founded: 2013
- Funding: $572 million in venture capital and $5 million in government grants, plus an additional $1.7 billion venture capital if key milestones are achieved
- Number of employees: 120
- Technology: Magneto-inertial fusion, pulsed operation, field-reversed configuration
- Fuel: Deuterium and helium-3 (different forms of hydrogen and helium)
- Notable milestones: In 2021 became the first privately funded company to exceed 100 million degrees Celsius plasma temperatures in its Trenta prototype.
- Next steps: Helion is building Polaris, its seventh prototype device, which it predicts will be able to demonstrate "net electricity" by 2024, meaning it generates and captures more power than it uses. If Helion accomplishes this, it will be the first company to do so.
- Founders: Founder David Kirtley is a University of Michigan graduate, while co-founders Chris Pihl and George Votroubek are graduates of the University of Washington
- Notable investors: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI and former president of Y Combinator; Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz; Mithril Capital and Capricorn Investment Group
Zap Energy
- Location: Everett and Mukilteo, Wash.
- Founded: 2017
- Funding: Approximately $200 million in venture capital, $7.8 million in government grants
- Number of employees: 94
- Technology: Magnetic confinement fusion, pulsed operation, Z-pinch
- Fuel: Deuterium (ultimately adding tritium, which is another form of hydrogen)
- Milestones: This year Zap turned on and created fusion in FuZE-Q, its fourth generation device.
- Next steps: Zap recently completed construction of a capacitor bank capable of generating pulses of electricity reaching 1,000 kA (kiloampere) of current. The new power source should allow Zap to surpass "breakeven," meaning the plasmas in its device will be able to generate more power than they consume. The team hopes to reach breakeven by next year.
- Founders: Entrepreneur and investor Benj Conway, and UW professors Uri Shumlak and Brian A. Nelson. Zap uses technology developed in collaboration with researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
- Notable investors: Chris Sacca’s Lowercarbon Capital, Bill Gates-led Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures and Shell Ventures
CTFusion
- Location: Seattle at the UW and planning to expand to a new site in the near future.
- Founded: 2015
- Funding: $5 million in government grants since launching, and about $15 million in grants while developing the technology at the UW previous to starting CTFusion
- Number of employees: 10
- Technology: Magnetic fusion, continuous operation, spheromak
- Fuel: Deuterium (ultimately adding tritium, which is another form of hydrogen)
- Milestones: CTFusion has reached 23 megawatts of input power. That's the amount it will need to operate its commercial device.
- Next steps: The startup is looking for a new space for building a larger prototype device, likely settling somewhere north of Seattle. Once CTFusion breaks ground, the device should be operational in 1.5 to 2 years, generating data by 2025. The team expects the device will provide the data needed to ensure that the device that follows it will demonstrate net-energy production.
- Co-founders: Derek Sutherland, Aaron Hossack, Chris Ajemian and Kyle Morgan, who all earned degrees at the UW.
General Fusion
- Location: Headquarters in Burnaby, British Columbia; a demonstration site at the U.K. Atomic Energy Agency’s Culham Campus; and an office near Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.
- Founded: 2002
- Funding: More than $300 million
- Number of employees: More than 200
- Technology: Magnetized target fusion, pulsed operation, spherical Tokamak
- Fuel: Deuterium (ultimately adding tritium, which is another form of hydrogen)
- Milestones: Earlier this year, General Fusion successfully demonstrated its plasma compression prototype, marking an important step towards commercialization.
- Next steps: Construction is underway for General Fusion’s demonstration machine in the U.K. and it should be able to reach a temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius in "a power-plant-relevant environment." The machine, which will be 70% the size of the planned commercial product, should start operating in 2025. The company aims to commercialize its technology by the early 2030s, and it has partnerships with two U.S. national labs to advance that goal.
- Founder: Michel Laberge graduated from the University of British Columbia and was a senior physicist and principal engineer at a laser printing company.
- Notable investors: Bezos Expeditions, BDC, Braemar Energy Ventures, Chrysalix Venture Capital, JIMCO, Segra Capital, SET Ventures and GIC
Avalanche Energy
- Location: Seattle
- Founded: 2018
- Funding: $5.1 million (according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings an additional round is in the works; Avalanche officials declined to comment)
- Number of employees: 17
- Technology: Hybrid electrostatic/magnetic fusion, steady state, Orbitron configuration (combining aspects of an orbitrap and a magnetron)
- Fuel: Deuterium in prototypes, with future plans to use proton-boron11
- Milestones: An initial proof of concept with a 100kV (kilovolt) system called Neo. Design and fabrication of a 300kV system named Marty is complete with testing of high-voltage conditions and electrostatic fusion starting soon. Avalanche recently won a Pentagon contract from the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to develop their compact Orbitron fusion device for use in space propulsion and power generation.
- Next steps: Once the DIU demonstration technology is perfected, Avalanche plans to work on designs for manufacturing and building a plant to mass produce Orbitrons. The team envisions its micro-fusion reactors competing against hydrogen fuel cells in industries such as long-haul trucking, maritime shipping and aviation.
- Founders: Robin Langtry and Brian Riordan met at Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ space company, where both worked on rocket propulsion systems. Langtry was also at Boeing for nearly a decade.
- Notable investors: PRIME Impact Fund, Congruent Ventures, Chris Sacca's Lowercarbon Capital
Editor's note: Story was updated to correct the amount of funding in the Inflation Reduction Act and the "next steps" for CTFusion.
