This Week’s Fusion News: February 20, 2026
Things You Gotta Know
New Mexico Lawmakers Push Tax Credit Overhaul to Anchor Fusion and Quantum Investment
New Mexico legislators are advancing tax incentive bills aimed at keeping Pacific Fusion's billion-dollar Albuquerque campus and other advanced energy ventures rooted in the state. House Bill 27 and Senate Bill 97 would expand the state's R&D tax credit with stackable provisions alongside industrial revenue bonds, while House Bill 154, which passed the House 59-5, adds a new credit for advanced energy equipment spanning fusion, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing. Pacific Fusion COO Carrie von Muench has pressed lawmakers to follow through on commitments supporting the company's campus, which Albuquerque backed with $776.6 million in industrial revenue bonds last fall.
DOE Research Finds Plasma Micro-Turbulence May Solve a Key Tokamak Heat Management Problem
Researchers at DOE's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory led by physicist C.S. Chang have discovered that tiny natural swirls in tokamak plasma, called micro-turbulence, spread escaping heat over a wider area than older formulas predicted, potentially easing one of the most persistent engineering challenges in fusion reactor design. The team's supercomputer simulations also revealed that magnetic field lines near the tokamak's X-point twist into structured forms of magnetic chaos even during steady-state operation, contradicting conventional assumptions about plasma behavior. The findings suggest future tokamak designs may benefit from harnessing rather than eliminating plasma turbulence, though experimental validation on existing machines is still needed.
Wisconsin Launches Fusion Energy Consortium With State Grant
The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. has awarded a $778,000 Ignite Wisconsin grant to establish the Wisconsin Fusion Energy Consortium, led by the 5 Lakes Institute and anchored by UW-Madison's fusion research program. With matching commitments bringing total funding to $950,000, the coalition includes the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, UW-Madison College of Engineering, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, and 19 industry members. The consortium plans to provide financial support to five startup teams and technical assistance to over 80 companies within 18 months, targeting 24 new jobs and three new product lines. Governor Tony Evers highlighted the initiative during his State of the State address, positioning Wisconsin as a national hub for fusion commercialization.
OpenStar Becomes First Commercial Company to Confine Plasma With Levitated Dipole Reactor
New Zealand-based OpenStar Technologies publicly demonstrated its "Junior" prototype in Wellington, confining plasma using a levitated half-tonne superconducting magnet inside a 5-meter vacuum chamber at temperatures exceeding 1 million degrees Celsius. The demonstration, attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, marks the first time a commercial company has achieved plasma confinement with a levitated dipole configuration, which uses a single internal magnet rather than the multiple external coils found in tokamaks and stellarators. OpenStar is now developing its next device, Tahi, with four times the magnetic field strength, supported by NZD 35 million ($21 million) from New Zealand's Regional Infrastructure Fund.
“First Mover Strategy” For The Fusion Energy Supply Chain
A panel at the Hudson Institute featuring leaders from Helion Energy, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, SCSP, and Peak Nano laid out the strategic case for building a domestic and allied-nation fusion supply chain now — before the window closes. With China investing $1.5 billion annually in state-directed fusion development and producing ten times more fusion PhDs than the U.S., the panelists warned that without immediate policy action, the multitrillion-dollar fusion manufacturing base could be lost to strategic competitors.
Helion Moves Closer to Achieving Commercial Fusion
Helion Energy achieved two major milestones with their Polaris prototype: measurable deuterium-tritium fusion and a private-sector plasma temperature record of 150 million degrees Celsius. With their Orion production facility under construction in Malaga, Washington, Helion is closing in on delivering 50 MW of commercial fusion power to Microsoft.
