Fusion

Artificial intelligence (AI) group OpenAI is reportedly discussing buying electricity from Helion Energy, the fusion startup company based in Everett, Washington. Sources told POWER that a deal would enable OpenAI to be guaranteed part of Helion's power generation, with as much as 5 GW available by 2030 and up to 50 GW by 2035. The post OpenAI in Talks With Helion to Secure Fusion Energy appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Fusion energy startup Focused Energy and the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) have established a $6.9 million partnership to address fundamental challenges in inertial fusion energy (IFE) and accelerate progress toward practical, sustainable fusion power. Conceptual rendering of Focused Energy’s planned Fusion Pilot Plant. Courtesy of Focused Energy. Through the collaboration, LLE will contribute its advanced experimental and modeling capabilities — including the high-bandwidth FLUX laser system — to investigate laser-plasma instabilities (LPI). These instabilities, which include phenomena such as cross-beam energy transfer, stimulated Raman scatter, and two-plasmon decay, can...

In a new study, scientists from the universities of Portsmouth and Manchester report that a specially engineered enzyme can significantly speed up the breakdown of PET—the plastic used in water bottles, food packaging and polyester clothing—when it is processed at high concentrations similar to those used in industry. The findings are published in the journal Bioresource Technology.

Nuclear fusion energy could become commercially viable by the early 2030s as scientists work to replicate the sun's power, potentially transforming energy.

We speak to Rob Akers, director for computing programmes at the UK Atomic Energy Institute, about its new artificial intelligence supercomputer

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Nature is the foremost international weekly scientific journal in the world and is the flagship journal for Nature Portfolio. It publishes the finest peer-reviewed research in all fields of science and technology on the basis of its originality, importance, interdisciplinary interest, timeliness, accessibility, elegance and surprising conclusions. Nature publishes landmark papers, award winning news, leading comment and expert opinion on important, topical scientific news and events that enable readers to share the latest discoveries in science and evolve the discussion amongst the global scientific community.

We speak to UKAEA director for computing programmes, Rob Akers, about the new Sunrise AI supercomputer for nuclear fusion research and development

The AMD Epyc and Instinct-powered Dell hardware will deliver 6.74 exaflops to power digital twins to support nuclear fusion research

A consultancy firm with expertise in radiation safety can help companies developing a new generation of commercial fusion reactors to navigate the regulatory framework The post Licensing puts the power into nuclear fusion appeared first on Physics World.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are helping to enable the next generation of

Federal Epstein files reveal emails where he claimed to have personally lobbied Congress to defund cold fusion research by electrochemist Stanley Pons in 1989.

To operate fusion systems safely and reliably, scientists need to monitor plasma fuel conditions and measure properties like temperature and density that can affect fusion reactions. Making these measurements will require specialized diagnostic sensors. Against this backdrop, a report sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recommends increased investment in America’s fusion diagnostic capabilities, a critical technology that will provide DOE and Congress with information to speed up the delivery of commercial fusion power plants. The report summarizes findings from 70 researchers who analyzed seven plasma physics topics funded by the DOE’s fusion energy sciences program. The researchers who contributed the...

Fusion energy may be one of the most promising clean power sources of the future—but only if scientists can precisely measure the extreme, fast-moving plasmas that make it possible. A new U.S. Department of Energy–sponsored report urges major investment in advanced diagnostic tools—the high-tech “sensors” that track plasma temperature, density, and behavior inside fusion systems. Bringing together 70 experts from universities, national labs, and private industry, the workshop identified seven priority areas ranging from burning plasma to full-scale pilot plants.

Plasma physicist Debbie Callahan, chief strategy officer at Focused Energy, talks to Hamish Johnston about her work in laser fusion research The post Focusing on fusion: Debbie Callahan talks commercial laser fusion appeared first on Physics World.

To operate fusion systems safely and reliably, scientists need to monitor plasma fuel conditions and measure properties like temperature and density that can affect fusion reactions. Making these measurements requires specialized sensors known as diagnostics.

Author(s): Pavel Aleynikov, Per Helander, and Håkan M. SmithThe concept for future fusion reactors has a key advantage over the tokamak, being practically immune to large-scale disruptions. The authors show, however, that a rapid shutdown of stellarator coil currents (with fast dissipation of poloidal magnetic flux) can nonetheless drive an avalanche of runaway electrons, even without any interruption of the net toroidal plasma current. The problem is far less serious than in a tokamak, but some runaways are inevitably present in an activated fusion device, so an accidental rapid coil ramp-down could produce a dangerous runaway current. Some form of dedicated intervention is likely necessary. [Phys. Rev. Applied 25, 024065] Published Fri Feb 20, 2026

Author(s): Wladimir Zholobenko, Frank Jenko, Kaiyu Zhang, Philipp Ulbl, Konrad Eder, Andreas Stegmeir, Clemente Angioni, and Peter ManzA global, confinement-time-long, flux-driven turbulence simulation of the tokamak plasma edge region subject to a power ramp reproduces an abrupt turbulence transition. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 075101] Published Thu Feb 19, 2026

“Our understanding of instabilities—when they grow, how they grow—is important to making fusion work.”

Scientists have long seen a puzzling pattern in tokamaks, the doughnut-shaped machines that could one day reliably generate electricity from fusing atoms. When plasma particles escape the core of the magnetic fields that hold the plasma in its doughnut shape, they stream down toward the exhaust system, known as the divertor. There, plasma particles strike metal plates, cool down and bounce back. (The returning atoms help fuel the fusion reaction.) But experiments consistently show that far more particles hit the inner divertor target than the outer one.

Livermore company was co-founded by National Ignition Facility research leaders Annie Kritcher and Mike Dunne.

One of the challenges to creating fusion energy is understanding what happens at the smallest scales during fusion reactions. In inertial confinement fusion (ICF), for example, a fuel-filled capsule is bombarded with lasers to create shockwaves and heat and compress the target to kickstart fusion. This process involves many complex interactions that scientists have not been able to observe until now. Dual-probe experiments on laser shockwaves at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) could help unlock the engineering challenges underlying fusion, opening a path to a new source of abundant energy. The research was led by the University of Michigan through the Department of Energy’s...

Harnessing the power of the sun holds the promise of providing future societies with energy abundance. To make this a reality, fusion researchers need to address many technological challenges. For example, fusion reactions occur within a superheated state of matter, called plasma, which can form unstable structures that reduce the efficiency of those reactions.

Inertia Enterprises, a fusion power start-up with ties to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), has secured a $450 million investment to commercialize fusion energy. With the support of its investors and a team purpose-built to deliver grid-scale energy, Inertia will bring to market the only fusion energy approach proven to produce more power than it consumes. Founded in 2024 and unveiled last year, Inertia will build a fusion pilot plant based on the physics proven at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The milestone-based funding will advance Inertia’s plans to build the world’s most powerful laser, Thunderwall, and a production line to mass manufacture...

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) maintains one of the richest and most diverse histories in the federal government. Although the department itself has only existed since 1977, its lineage traces back to the Manhattan Project—the massive scientific effort that developed the atomic bomb during World War II—and to various energy-related programs that were previously […] The post From the Manhattan Project to Fusion: The History of DOE’s National Labs appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The discussion about nuclear fusion has long involved its potential to create limitless amounts of energy. Thea Energy is one of several companies working to turn that potential into reality. The post The POWER Interview: Thea Energy’s Fusion Architecture appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Focuslight Technologies, a photonics solutions provider, and BrightView Technologies, an optical technologies company, established a long-term strategic partnership. The partnership merges BrightView’s optical micro-lens array film technologies and optical design expertise with Focuslight’s global manufacturing, module integration, and supply-chain capabilities. Through the collaboration, the companies aim to accelerate the development and commercialization of optical components, modules, and integrated solutions. Focuslight will serve as BrightView’s strategic manufacturing partner and will provide back-end processing and related supply-chain services for various high-volume applications. The two companies also plan to...

In inertial confinement fusion, a capsule of fuel begins at temperatures near zero and pressures close to vacuum. When lasers compress that fuel to trigger fusion, the material heats up to millions of degrees and reaches pressures similar to the core of the sun. That process happens within a miniscule amount of space and time.

The Department of Energy’s (DOE's) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Type One Energy and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville are partnering to establish a world-class facility that will drive American innovation and move fusion energy closer to reality. This high-heat flux (HHF) facility, located at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Bull Run Energy Complex in East Tennessee, will evaluate how materials react under extreme conditions in a fusion device. The post Oak Ridge Lab, Type One Energy Partnering on Nuclear Fusion Project appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Plasma physicist Debbie Callahan is our podcast guest The post Laser fusion: Focused Energy charts a course to commercial viability appeared first on Physics World.

A research group has achieved a new plasma confinement regime using small 3D magnetic perturbations that simultaneously suppress edge instabilities and enhance core plasma confinement in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). The research results are published in PRX Energy.

China's EAST nuclear fusion reactor has successfully kept plasma stable at extreme densities, passing a major fusion milestone and potentially bringing humanity closer to wielding near-limitless clean energy.

At the heart of our sun, fusion is unfolding. As hydrogen atoms merge to form helium, they emit energy, producing the heat and light that reach us here on Earth. Inspired by our nearby star, researchers want to create fusion closer to home. If they can crack the engineering challenges underlying the process, they would create an abundant new source of power to eclipse all others.

Fusion scientists and AI leaders warn that a growing STEM skills gap could undermine the future energy and technology workforce, calling for urgent education and training reforms.

Recent breakthroughs at U.S. fusion labs, along with new public-private partnerships, are bringing us closer than ever to realizing fusion energy’s limitless potential. However, the U.S. has a major gap to fill in fusion research and development (R&D), and workforce development. The post Building a Fusion-Ready Workforce: Why STEM and Trades Education Are Key to America’s Energy Future appeared first on POWER Magazine.

At 4 a.m., while most of New Jersey slept, a Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) physicist sat at his computer connected to a control room 3,500 miles away in Oxford, England. Years of experience running fusion experiments in the U.S. helped guide the U.K. team through delicate adjustments as they worked together to coax particles of plasma—the fourth state of matter—to temperatures that match those found at the heart of the sun.

Ever since nuclear fusion was discovered in the 1930s, scientists have wondered if we could somehow replicate and harness the phenomenon behind starlight—the smashing together of hydrogen atoms to form helium and a stupendous amount of clean energy. Fusing hydrogen would yield 200 million times more energy than simply burning it. Unlike nuclear fission, which…

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Researchers using China’s “artificial sun” fusion reactor have broken through a long-standing density barrier in fusion plasma. The experiment confirmed that plasma can remain stable even at extreme densities if its interaction with the reactor walls is carefully controlled. This finding removes a major obstacle that has slowed progress toward fusion ignition. The advance could help future fusion reactors produce more power.

Researchers working on China's fully superconducting Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) have experimentally accessed a theorized "density-free regime" for fusion plasmas, achieving stable operation at densities well beyond conventional limits.

Researchers say fusion reactors might do more than generate clean energy—they could also create particles linked to dark matter. A new theoretical study shows how neutrons inside future fusion reactors could spark rare reactions that produce axions, particles long suspected to exist but never observed. The work revisits an idea teased years ago on The Big Bang Theory, where fictional physicists couldn’t solve the puzzle. This time, real scientists think they’ve found a way.

Aiming to transition laser-ignited inertial fusion from experimental to industrial stage.

Trump Media plans to merge with a company developing nuclear fusion technology, putting the president’s financial interests in competition with other energy companies over which his administration holds sway.

Donald Trump's associated media firm makes a shock move into nuclear fusion with a £4.5 billion merger, raising questions about power, politics and the future of clean energy in America.

The International Cooperation on Next-gen Inertial Confinement Fusion Lasers (ICONIC-FL) project will combine the expertise of scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT (Fraunhofer ILT) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to transition laser-ignited inertial fusion from the experimental stage to industrial application. In the newly launched initiative, the partners are collating their sophisticated laser simulation to develop high-energy lasers that can ignite a fusion reaction and run at maximum efficiency in 24/7 power plant operation. A production line was set up on site during the construction of the National Ignition Facility specifically for the manufacture of the laser glass plates. Since...

Korea seeks to begin staging nuclear fusion power generation tests in 2030 at the earliest, nearly 20 years ahead of its original schedule, the government announced Friday, amid growing energy demand stemming from an artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The National Fusion Energy Committee announced the blueprint outlining the direction of its research in the sector, along with goals to secure eight related critical technologies, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. Nuclear fusion power is considered a promising option for generating cleaner and safer energy, as it does not produce any carbon emission while also generating less radioactive waste than nuclear fission. "Nuclear fusion technology is a key area that will lead Korea's innovation-driven growth," Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon said in a release. "We will make efforts to conduct nuclear fusion power generation tests in the 2030s, in order to address rising electricity demand in the AI era and take the lead in the

Trump Media shares surge 33% after $6Bn Fusion merger deal. What investors should know about risks and opportunities ahead.

Trump Media just announced a $6 billion deal with an Alphabet-backed outfit that would create one of the first publicly traded fusion companies.

The company behind President Trump's Truth Social platform makes a surprising move into the energy sector.

The company behind President Trump's Truth Social platform makes a surprising move into the energy sector.

The deal would be a total transformation for Trump Media & Technology Group, the social media and crypto company in which President Trump holds a large stake.

MIT professor shot dead Nuno Gomes Loureiro, Portuguese fusion leader and Plasma Science director, dies after Brookline home shooting, sparking homicide probe as tributes flow

Nuno Loureiro, a leading MIT fusion scientist, was fatally shot at his home on Monday night amid ongoing concerns over gun violence and recent college shootings in the US.

For plasma in fusion reactors, turbulence might be more than a pesky thing to control, a new study suggests.

Fusion technology company Thea Energy said it has completed its preconceptual fusion power plant design. The company, founded in 2022 as a spin-out of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Princeton University, is advancing the stellarator as part of its Helios system. The post Thea Energy Completes Fusion Power Plant Preconceptual Design appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Thea Energy just revealed design details for Helios, a fusion reactor that borrows concepts from digital displays to

Here’s to another year of waiting for fusion to come ten years later.

Reorganization could shift mission of the United States’s largest funder of the physical sciences

Commercial-scale fusion edges closer with record plasma pressure. The post Startup Zap Energy Just Set a Fusion Power Record With Its Latest Reactor appeared first on SingularityHub.

Operating a new device named the Fusion Z-pinch Experiment 3, or FuZE-3, Zap Energy has now achieved plasmas with electron pressures as high as 830 megapascals (MPa), or 1.6 gigapascals (GPa) total, comparable to the pressures found deep below Earth’s crust.

The University of California (UC), in partnership with UC-managed laboratories, awarded $8 million in multicampus research grants to accelerate progress towards abundant, stable, zero-carbon fusion energy. The UC Initiative for Fusion Energy provides two grants of $4 million over three years. The award programs supports two teams are composed of UC faculty representing five UC campuses as well as the UC-managed Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos National Labs. Experiments in the lab of professor Farhat Beg at University California (UC) San Diego. Professor Beg is co-leading one of two teams of UC researchers awarded $4 million grants to accelerate progress toward a future powered by abundant, stable, zero-carbon fusion energy. ...

Nuclear fusion, which operates on the same principle that powers the sun, is expected to become a sustainable energy source for the future. To achieve fusion power generation, it is essential to confine plasma at temperatures exceeding one hundred million degrees using a magnetic field and to maintain this high-energy state stably.

InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips Nuclear fusion is no longer “30 years away.” Discover how breakthroughs in AI, magnets, and materials are accelerating the race to commercial fusion—and how investors can position for the technologies powering the future. The post Why Nuclear Fusion Could Be Just Around the Corner appeared first on InvestorPlace.

Study highlights untapped potential of IR spectroscopy data

As industry-galvanizing moments go, the 2022 National Ignition Facility (NIF) experiment that achieved fusion breakeven is an unusual one. While the achievement marked a pivotal moment for the global scientific community broadly — no small feat — for the nascent fusion industry, it represented concrete evidence that there is, in fact, a business to pursue on the road to sustainable fusion energy. The marketplace has swelled with young companies endeavoring to commercialize fusion energy in the three years since the breakthrough. Multiple approaches to fusion energy exist. Though the NIF experiment moved toward practicalizing just one, the successful result has also sparked momentum in developing many others. At the...

Study highlights untapped potential of IR spectroscopy data

The nuclear reactions that fuel the sun could soon be harnessed to generate electricity on Earth — with

A key component of a system that would deliver fusion energy in the U.S. has arrived at Commonwealth Fusion Systems' (CFS) campus in Devens, Massachusetts. The company on October 28 said the first half of the vacuum vessel at the heart of SPARC, the group's tokamak machine, is now on-site. The post Fusion Energy Group Hits Construction Milestone at Massachusetts Campus appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The United States government has struck a $1 billion deal with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) to build two

The footage offers an unprecedentedly colorful look at the extreme physics at play—revealing valuable information for researchers studying fusion.

Some companies claim they'll be supplying power commercially within a decade. How likely is that? The post Investors Have Poured Nearly $10 Billion Into Fusion Power. Will Their Bet Pay Off? appeared first on SingularityHub.

Private-sector funding for fusion energy has surged to nearly US$10 billion, driven by advancements in technology and increased investment interest. The post Billions in private cash is flooding into fusion power. Will it pay off? appeared first on Power Engineering.

The German State of Saxony is launching a competence network for future technologies in nuclear fusion. The aim is to advance fusion as a clean, safe, and base-load capable energy source, to build strategic expertise, and to make the results available to industry and society. Michael Bussmann’s group of Computational Radiation Physics at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) is coordinating the initiative. The Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS (Fraunhofer IWS) is serving as co-lead. The European Union and the Free State of Saxony are supporting the project with around €2.4 million ($2.8 million) in financing from the European Regional Development Fund. The network aims to serve as a...

Tokamaks are machines designed to hold and harness the power of the sun. These fusion machines use powerful

Using a combination of physics and machine learning, the researchers predicted how the plasma inside a tokamak reactor would behave given a set of initial conditions.

Tokamaks are machines that are meant to hold and harness the power of the sun. These fusion machines use powerful magnets to contain a plasma hotter than the sun's core and push the plasma's atoms to fuse and release energy. If tokamaks can operate safely and efficiently, the machines could one day provide clean and limitless fusion energy.

A powerful new AI tool called Diag2Diag is revolutionizing fusion research by filling in missing plasma data with synthetic yet highly detailed information. Developed by Princeton scientists and international collaborators, this system uses sensor input to predict readings other diagnostics can’t capture, especially in the crucial plasma edge region where stability determines performance. By reducing reliance on bulky hardware, it promises to make future fusion reactors more compact, affordable, and reliable.

Imagine watching a favorite movie when suddenly the sound stops. The data representing the audio is missing. All that's left are images. What if artificial intelligence (AI) could analyze each frame of the video and provide the audio automatically based on the pictures, reading lips and noting each time a foot hits the ground?

Zap Energy has advanced its Century fusion engineering test platform to operate for more than one hundred plasma shots at 0.2 Hz, or one shot every five seconds, with the resulting heat captured by surfaces coated with circulating liquid metal.

Fusion is the only technology that can deliver continuous, dispatchable power 24/7/365. Not only is fusion clean, sustainable, and cost-effective, but fusion plants can also be built into existing urban and industrial locations, plugging directly into today’s grid, significantly lowering development time and deployment costs. The post Igniting Fusion: The Key to Closing Our Energy Gap and Powering the Future appeared first on POWER Magazine.

This week, Commonwealth Fusion Systems announced it has another customer for its first commercial fusion power plant, in Virginia. Eni, one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, signed a billion-dollar deal to buy electricity from the facility. One small detail? That reactor doesn’t exist yet. Neither does the smaller reactor Commonwealth is building…

In about one out of every 800 people, two chromosomes fuse together to form an unusual bond. These are known as Robertsonian chromosomes. It's a mystery that has long stumped scientists.

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. This medical startup uses LLMs to run appointments and make diagnoses Patients at a small number of clinics in Southern California run by the medical startup Akido Labs are spending relatively little time,…

Eni, one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, just agreed to buy $1 billion in electricity from a power plant being built by Commonwealth Fusion Systems. The deal is the latest to illustrate just how much investment Commonwealth and other fusion companies are courting as they attempt to take fusion power from the…

An innovative method for trapping lithium ions has led to a promising technology for extracting precious lithium isotopes—a crucial ingredient for fueling nuclear fusion experiments.

Author(s): C. L. Jiang, W. F. Henning, B. P. Kay, and K. E. RehmFusion reactions are the most complex reaction processes during the collision of two nuclei, their cross sections spanning several orders of magnitude. The authors expand a previous analysis of heavy-ion fusion, applying a recently proposed universal function for fusion cross sections. By scaling both energy and cross sections according to characteristics of the Coulomb barrier, the authors essentially take into account the influence of the Coulomb interaction between the two nuclei as they fuse. The approach reproduces fusion excitation functions rather well, even in the energy region below the Coulomb barrier, while highlighting individual reaction characteristics as one compares many fusion systems. The success in identifying simple scaling laws for universal representations of a large body of fusion

Inertial confinement reactors, stellarators and tokamaks each have pros and cons

Once complete, ITER will run fusion experiments using five times as much plasma as the largest reactors in operation today.

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