Things You Gotta Know
Proxima Fusion Raises 411 Million Euros ($468 Million) at a 2.4 Billion Euro Valuation to Build Europe’s Commercial Fusion Champion
Proxima Fusion announced that it has raised 411 million euros ($468 million) in a financing round led by XTX Ventures and East X Ventures, with Google and German utility RWE joining as strategic investors, valuing the Munich stellarator developer at 2.4 billion euros and making it the best funded fusion company in Europe. The round brings Proxima’s total to more than 650 million euros secured in under three years, including 95 million euros in public grants. The new capital will fund completion of the Stellarator Model Coil, expansion of high temperature superconducting cable and magnet production, and continued development of the engineering and manufacturing systems required for stellarators.
Shareholders Approve the Merger That Makes General Fusion the First Publicly Traded Pure-Play Fusion Company
Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. III shareholders voted to approve the business combination with General Fusion, the Vancouver based Magnetized Target Fusion developer, and General Fusion securityholders approved the transaction at their own special meeting. The combined company, to be renamed General Fusion Group Ltd., is expected to close shortly after the vote and trade on Nasdaq under the tickers GFUZ and GFUZW, making General Fusion the first publicly traded pure play fusion company. The transaction, first announced in January, includes a committed and oversubscribed PIPE of roughly $108 million and up to $230 million of Spring Valley trust capital, assuming no redemptions.
UKAEA and Eni Launch RH3OVA, a Joint Venture Selling Specialist Services to the Global Fusion Industry
The UK Atomic Energy Authority and Italian energy company Eni announced the launch of RH3OVA, a joint venture incorporated in the UK that will deliver specialist consultancy and operational services to the growing global fusion industry. Combining UKAEA’s decades of fusion research and operations experience with Eni’s industrial scale project delivery, RH3OVA will offer end to end services across the fusion fuel lifecycle, from early stage feasibility studies through deployment and operational support, aiming to help fusion developers close the gap between experimental machines and operating power plants.
China Completes Final Tests on the World’s Largest Superconducting Fusion Magnet, a 582-Ton Coil Built Entirely at Home
China’s Comprehensive Research Facility for Fusion Technology (CRAFT) in Hefei announced that the largest superconducting magnet ever built for a fusion device has passed its final tests. The 582 metric ton D shaped assembly pairs a toroidal field coil with a central solenoid and reaches a 6.5 tesla field, with a targeted 60 year service life. After six years of development, the program achieved complete domestic production across raw materials, structural design, manufacturing equipment, and process technology, an engineering milestone that feeds directly into China’s next step fusion devices BEST and CFETR and its stated goal of fusion generated power by 2030.
Cosylab: Giving Control to Production Fusion Systems
The Fusion Report continues its supply chain coverage with an interview with Mark Plesko, CEO of Cosylab, the Ljubljana based control systems firm with roughly 250 employees that has worked on ITER for 18 years and now supports fusion programs worldwide. Plesko explains why instrumentation and control is not treated as the main problem until it becomes the main problem, how Fusionics, the initiative Cosylab co founded with UKAEA, aims to give fusion companies a standardized control platform they can build proprietary systems on top of, and why he calls AI a godsend for fusion.
Helical Fusion Progresses on Construction of Their First Production Power Plant
Helical Fusion, the Japanese startup developing a stellarator based path to commercial fusion, announced that a long established Japanese general contractor has joined its Helix Program as an Official Partner and signed an MoU to collaborate toward construction of Helix KANATA, its fusion pilot plant targeted for the 2030s. The partnership strengthens the industrial foundation for fusion in Japan, where a new government strategic investment framework includes an estimated JPY 3.1 trillion in public private investment for the fusion sector through FY2040.
