General Fusion

“I decided to start a company to make fusion happen quicker, get there faster—and save the planet.” Twenty-two years ago, our Chief Science Officer, Michel Laberge, founded General Fusion. Earlier this month at the Khazanah Megatrends Forum, he shared insights into the journey and technical progress that brings us to where we are today: approaching breakthrough milestones in 2025 and 2026 with our LM26 fusion machine! Watch: https://lnkd.in/g8H8bgsF #TechTuesday #CanadianInnovation #fusionenergy

This week, we’re excited to join thousands of leaders from business, government, and the investment community in San Jose for #VERGE24 – one of the premier climate tech conferences. Our CEO, Greg Twinney, and Head of Investor Relations, Dan Fleischer, will be there from Oct 29-31 to share our path to scaling and deploying our practical fusion technology by the 2030s. Stay tuned—our LM26 fusion machine will begin compressing plasmas at large scale in early 2025! It is designed to achieve transformative plasma heating results of 1 keV, then 10 keV, and progress toward scientific breakeven equivalent by 2026. Learn more about VERGE: https://lnkd.in/eAzyKVi9

The fusion sector is thriving in the Pacific Northwest! This week, CleanTech Alliance brought together more than 150 stakeholders across the innovation ecosystem for Seattle Fusion Week. Our SVP of Technology Development, Mike Donaldson, shared the upgrades we’re making to our LM26 fusion machine to begin compressing plasmas at large scale by early 2025. We’re tapping into the regional supply chain for many critical components for LM26. For example, a few of our key suppliers include Axton Incorporated, Nu Dimensions Fabricating and Manufacturing Ltd, Williams & White Machine Inc., and others. Fusion is happening now—and already providing economic benefits in our region!

The fusion vessel for LM26 is here! A core component of our groundbreaking fusion demonstration machine, it houses the lithium liner that will compress plasmas to transformative technical milestones for fusion energy—1 keV, 10 keV, and ultimately scientific breakeven equivalent. Sub-scale testing is complete. Our capacitor banks are ready. Lab operations are going full tilt to begin compressing plasmas at full scale in early 2025—stay tuned! 🚀⚡

We were thrilled to share our commercialization plans at FusionXInvest: Japan last week. Fusion is the ultimate clean energy solution—it powers the sun and stars. Our founder & Chief Science Officer Michel Laberge spoke about our vision to harness that power here on Earth, with our unique technology that translates to practical, economical power generation that can supply clean #fusionenergy to the grid by the 2030s. Right now, we’re progressing on our path to commercialization with our LM26 fusion demonstration, which is set to achieve transformative milestones—1 keV, 10 keV, and ultimately scientific breakeven equivalent—over the next 24 months. Stay tuned!

It was a BIG week in fusion science earlier this month—the 66th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics! Our team was in Atlanta to present the incredible technical progress we’ve made in preparation for the next phase of our LM26 program: compressing plasmas at large scale. This year, our team gave a talk and presented a number of posters: ⚡ Plasma Physicist Andrea Tancetti gave a talk about our method for precisely calculating energy confinement time in LM26’s plasma injector, which creates plasmas with energy confinement times of approximately 10 milliseconds – the duration required to compress them to fusion conditions. ⚡ Diagnostician Patrick Carle and Plasma Physicist Stephen Howard authored a poster on the high-performance spherical tokamak plasma configurations generated by our PI3 plasma injector since its commissioning in 2017. Over seven years, our team has optimized its performance for the next phase of our fusion demonstration program. ⚡ Physicist Aaron Froese presented a poster on the team’s achievements in modelling plasma compression and stability. Using COMSOL, OpenFOAM, and code developed by Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), we can better predict how our solid lithium liner will compress the plasma to fusion conditions in LM26. ⚡ Mitacs student Daniel Solano from Queen's University presented a poster on his recent work at General Fusion operating a specialized interferometer on our plasma injector to enhance our plasma density measurements. For regular updates on our progress, sign up for our emails here: https://lnkd.in/gC-dqW5n #TechTuesday #CanadianInnovation #fusionenergy

A key area of our research collaboration is advancing cutting-edge diagnostic technology to precisely measure plasma performance inside our fusion machines. We’re working with UK Atomic Energy Authority, TRIUMF, Simon Fraser University, and others globally to develop a robust system for LM26 spanning magnetic sensors, neutron detectors, spectroscopy, and laser-based diagnostics. At ITER Organization earlier this month, Data Scientist and Lead Project Engineer for our LM26 diagnostic system Filiberto Braglia presented at the ITPA 46th Topical Group on Diagnostics in St. Paul-lez-Durance. In development are state-of-the-art Thomson scattering, interferometer, neutron spectrometer, and other critical devices. These will all provide the data we need to verify when LM26 achieves its transformative results!

"Our design has several advantages. First, our liquid metal wall solves the first-wall problem, eliminating the need for a complex blanket system to protect the vessel. Additionally, tritium breeding and power extraction are simplified by the pure liquid lithium wall—for example, the lithium can be routed directly into a steam exchanger to produce the steam that will drive the turbines." Our founder & Chief Science Officer, Michel Laberge, spoke with science and technology journalist Pat Brans about the inaugural private-public workshop hosted by ITER Organization earlier this year. Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/gJ8kTvrw

We’re proud to sponsor the next edition of FusionX Group’s FusionXInvest – one of the premier events connecting the fusion industry with the global investment community! Next week in Tokyo, we’ll spotlight General Fusion’s practical path to commercialization with an approach built from the ground up with a power plant in mind. Our founder & Chief Science Officer, Michel Laberge, will explain how our economical Magnetized Target Fusion technology is designed to produce its own fuel and inherently includes a method to extract the energy and put it to work. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/ej4J-hkX

Clean #fusionenergy has the potential to change the world, and today, General Fusion is on track to put power from fusion on the grid by the early to mid-2030s. Thank you, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, for inviting our founder & Chief Science Officer, Michel Laberge, to speak at this year's Khazanah Megatrends Forum in Kuala Lumpur and hosting this exciting innovation showcase!