Frankie Berry

TerraPower receives the first non-light water reactor construction permit in over 40 years for its sodium-cooled Natrium design in Wyoming. Mitsui takes its third fusion investment with a stake in beryllium refiner MiRESSO. Ohio introduces the Fusion Energy Advancement Act. Plus, Pacific Fusion’s CTO details the company’s roadmap to net facility gain by 2030, and we examine whether the U.S. power grid is headed for a reliability crisis.

SHINE Technologies closes a $240 million equity round led by NantWorks, the NRC publishes its proposed regulatory framework formally separating fusion from fission licensing, General Fusion files its Form F-4 to become the first publicly traded pure-play fusion company, Proxima Fusion signs a stellarator MoU with RWE and Bavaria, and Ohio introduces legislation to position itself as a fusion hub.

New Mexico legislators are advancing tax incentive bills to anchor Pacific Fusion’s billion-dollar Albuquerque campus, while DOE researchers at Princeton discovered that plasma micro-turbulence may solve a critical tokamak heat management challenge. Wisconsin launched a new fusion energy consortium with nearly $1 million in funding, and New Zealand’s OpenStar became the first commercial company to confine plasma using a levitated dipole reactor. Meanwhile, industry leaders warn that China’s $1.5 billion annual fusion investment and tenfold advantage in PhD production threaten U.S. control of the multitrillion-dollar fusion supply chain.

Helion Energy’s Polaris prototype becomes the first privately funded machine to operate with deuterium-tritium fuel and reaches 150 million degrees Celsius. Inertia Enterprises launches with a $450 million Series A to scale laser-based fusion. ITER deploys its massive “Godzilla” robot for tokamak assembly. Forbes contributor examines the U.S.-China fusion race, and UCLA leads a new $8 million University of California fusion research initiative.

Avalanche Energy closes $29M for desktop-sized fusion machines, Pacific Fusion eliminates $100M in reactor costs, Helical Fusion completes coil manufacturing hardware, a first-of-its-kind U.S.-Israel fusion supply chain initiative launches, Germany commits €14M to inertial fusion lasers, General Fusion adds OPG board chair as strategic advisor ahead of its SPAC listing, and LLNL releases a public economics model for inertial fusion power plants.

Fusion energy advanced on multiple fronts this week: DOE and Kyoto Fusioneering announced a tritium breeding blanket partnership at Oak Ridge, the EU Parliament backed a fusion leadership declaration, TVA filed Tennessee’s first fusion license application, and General Fusion announced a $1 billion public offering.

This week’s fusion news ties rising electricity demand directly to commercialization timelines. The World Economic Forum links AI growth and multi-year grid interconnection delays to the need for new baseload power. Type One Energy adds $87 million in convertible financing as investors scrutinize grid relevance. nT-Tao reaches first plasma on its C3 prototype in just over two months. The DOE certifies Thea Energy’s Helios pilot plant design, the first Milestone Program awardee to clear a final design review. Together, these developments show where fusion is moving from concept to deployment and what constraints remain.