Fusion Start-Up Plans to Build Its First Power Plant in Virginia

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Source: New York Times

Fusion Start-Up Plans to Build Its First Power Plant in Virginia

Commonwealth Fusion Systems, an M.I.T. spinoff, aims to generate carbon-free electricity in an industrial park near Richmond in the early 2030s.


A mock-up of a section of the reactor that Commonwealth Fusion Systems is building in Devens, Mass.Simon Simard for The New York Times

By Raymond Zhong
Dec. 17, 2024
Updated 3:13 p.m. ET

Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a start-up founded by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said on Tuesday that it planned to build its first fusion power plant in Virginia, with the aim of generating zero-emissions electricity there in the early 2030s.

The proposed facility is among the first to be announced that would harness nuclear fusion, the process that powers the sun, to produce power commercially, a long-elusive goal that scientists have pursued for the better part of a century.

In theory, a fusion reactor could generate abundant electricity without releasing planet-warming carbon dioxide, and with no risk of large-scale nuclear accidents. But moving the concept out of the lab and onto the power grid has proved immensely difficult.

Commonwealth is the best funded of a crop of start-ups that are hoping to realize fusion’s potential soon. The company is first building a pilot machine in Massachusetts, one it says will demonstrate the feasibility of its technology in 2027.

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Raymond Zhong reports on climate and environmental issues for The Times. More about Raymond Zhong

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/17/climate/commonwealth-fusion-power-plant.html

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Hat tip, the Washington Post