Fusion, the Fuel of the Future Forever

Fusion power has been 10 years in the future ever since I was a young budding scientist memorizing my periodic table. That means I've been disappointed for more than 60 years. But is it finally happening? At CNN, ‘World’s first’ grid-scale nuclear fusion power plant announced in the US.

If all goes to plan, Virginia will be the site of the world’s first grid-scale nuclear fusion power plant, able to harness this futuristic clean power and generate electricity from it by the early 2030s, according to an announcement Tuesday by the startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems.

CFS, one of the largest and most-hyped nuclear fusion companies, will make a multibillion-dollar investment into building the facility near Richmond. When operational, the plant will be able to plug into the grid and produce 400 megawatts, enough to power around 150,000 homes, said its CEO Bob Mumgaard.

Alcator C-Mod Tokamak at MIT

Early 30s? So, less than ten years? 

“This will mark the first time fusion power will be made available in the world at grid scale,” Mumgaard said. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin welcomed the announcement, calling it “an historic moment for Virginia and the world at large.” 

The plant would represent a new stage in the quest to commercialize nuclear fusion, the process which powers the stars. But the path toward it is unlikely to be smooth, not least because the technology has not yet been proved viable.

The world is desperate for a clean, abundant source of energy that can replace fossil fuels as an always-available baseload power: nuclear fusion promises to be just that.

It’s something CFS acknowledges. “Nothing occurs overnight in fusion,” Mumgaard said. But the startup, which was spun out of MIT in 2018 and has raised more than $2 billion so far, says it is moving at pace.

It is “deep into” building a tokamak able to demonstrate net fusion energy: meaning a reaction that produces more energy than it consumes. It hopes to produce its first plasma – the superheated cloud of charged gas in which fusion reactions happen – in 2026 and achieve net fusion energy shortly afterward.

Building, owning and operating a power plant to plug fusion power into the grid is its “next act,” Mumgaard said.

The startup looked at more than 100 locations around the world for the power plant before choosing the James River Industrial Center in Virginia. The site is owned by Dominion Energy, which will lease it to CFS and provide technical assistance. The construction process is set to be long and CFS says it is still seeking permits. 

The location was chosen for its growing economy, skilled workforce, clean energy focus and the ability it offered to connect into the grid after the retirement of a coal plant, CFS said. “In the early 2030s, all eyes will be on the Richmond region … as the birthplace of commercial fusion energy,” Mumgaard said.

Virginia is also the world’s largest data center market, a sector that requires huge and growing amounts of energy. Data center electricity consumption in the US is expected to triple by 2030, equivalent to the amount needed to power around 40 million US homes, according to a Boston Consulting Group analysis.

Good news, but I'm not holding my breath.