The Duck Curve#fusion
Type One Energy raises $200M Series B for its Tennessee fusion plant
Type One Energy said on October 6, 2026 that it closed a $200 million Series B co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Clutterbuck Capital, with Lowercarbon Capital, Siemens Energy Ventures and SiteGround Capital among new investors, for its stellarator program and Project Infinity at TVA's Bull Run site. CEO Christofer Mowry told TechCrunch the round should get the company halfway to paying for a 400-megawatt commercial plant.
ITER's ninth and final vacuum vessel sector arrives from Europe
Europe's last ITER vacuum vessel sector, #2, reached the site in southern France on October 2, 2026, the ninth of nine and, per the ITER Organization, the last of the core tokamak components to arrive. Six of nine sector modules are already in the tokamak pit, and ITER anticipates installing the final one by mid-2027.
Newsom signs SB 925 fusion strategic plan and AB 2647 nuclear assessment
Governor Gavin Newsom announced on September 30, 2026 that he has signed SB 925 (McNerney) and AB 2647 (Calderon). SB 925 requires the California Energy Commission to submit a fusion energy strategic plan by December 31, 2029, and adds fusion manufacturing projects with a certified capital investment of at least $250 million over five years to CEQA-streamlined certification. AB 2647 requires the commission to prepare a nuclear assessment by January 1, 2028 and, in preparing it, to consider recommended revisions to state law and regulations, including to Sections 25524.1 and 25524.2.
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Lofgren fusion bill would appropriate $10 billion for commercialization
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-CA) led the introduction of the American Leadership in Fusion Act, H.R. 10574, on September 24, 2026; GovInfo lists Lofgren as sponsor, four original cosponsors, referral to the House Science Committee and no posted text. A committee-posted draft dated September 16, 2026 would make six appropriations in five clauses summing to $10 billion by our arithmetic, put a DOE Office of Fusion under an Assistant Secretary for Fusion Energy, and list among its duties a goal to start building more than one fusion pilot power plant by December 31, 2028.
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nT-Tao and Orion sign MoU on US deployment of up-to-20 MW fusion system
nT-Tao and Orion Nuclear Energy Corporation said on September 21, 2026 that they signed a memorandum of understanding under which Orion will act as US project development and commercialization partner for nT-Tao's Compact Fusion System, an on-site unit the company says is designed to deliver up to 20 MW and remains under active development; the companies plan to work toward identifying a limited number of initial US opportunities for further evaluation. The release names no investment, site or timetable; nT-Tao dates the C3 prototype's first plasma to January 2026.
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CNNC proposes fusion engineering platform, unit signs ITER memorandum
China National Nuclear Corporation said on September 16, 2026 that at its September 15 side event at the 70th IAEA General Conference it proposed a new international cooperation platform for fusion engineering, released an HL-3 tokamak progress report and joint experimental plan, and that China Fusion Energy Co and ITER signed a memorandum of cooperation. World Nuclear News reports the event was told HL-3, open to international cooperation since 2024, reached an ion temperature of 120 million degrees Celsius in 2025 and plans deuterium-tritium burning-plasma experiments in 2027.
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UK Fusion Energy joins MTC as Tier 1 member, to spend up to £10m on R&D
UK Fusion Energy Ltd, the UKAEA Group subsidiary delivering the STEP prototype fusion plant at West Burton, said on September 15, 2026 that it has become a Tier 1 member of the Manufacturing Technology Centre and set up an R&D contract route through which it expects to spend up to £10 million (about $13.3 million). A release datelined September 14 announced a partnership with INFINITY, which is developing a 200-acre advanced manufacturing site at Infinity Park in Derby. UKFE says procurement packages for six strategic partner opportunities are in their final stages of development.
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UK Fusion Week: a UK-US statement, a supercomputer link and up to £3m
The Global Fusion Policy Summit in London on September 14, 2026 is first on the Fusion Industry Association's listing for UK Fusion Week, which runs to September 17. The UK and US issued a joint statement saying fusion safety standards should be distinct from fission safety standards; UKAEA and PPPL signed a declaration of intent to explore linking the SUNRISE and STELLAR-AI supercomputers; Tennessee, TVA and the UK expanded a fusion partnership; Kyoto Fusioneering committed up to £3 million to a breeder blanket experiment for STEP; and DESNZ published a fusion regulation landscape paper.
Thea Energy's Helios stellarator design lands in 16 peer-reviewed papers
Thea Energy said on September 9, 2026 that 16 peer-reviewed papers on its Helios stellarator power plant appear in a special issue of Fusion Engineering and Design. The preconceptual design, posted as an arXiv preprint in December 2025 and, per Thea, certified by DOE in January 2026 after an independent expert review, is a two-field-period quasi-axisymmetric stellarator with an 8 m major radius that the preprint says produces 1.1 GW of thermal power and 390 MW of net electric power. Thea says its Eos integrated stellarator is scheduled to be online by 2030; no site has been announced.
MGE Energy buys into Realta Fusion to explore 200-MWe Wisconsin plant
Realta Fusion and Madison Gas and Electric announced a strategic partnership on September 2, 2026 to explore joint development of a 200-MWe fusion power plant in Wisconsin. MGE Energy made a direct equity investment of undisclosed size in the first phase, and the utility agreed to provide equipment, engineering, and technical support plus help with siting, permitting, interconnection, and financing; Realta CEO Kieran Furlong told Wisconsin Public Radio the mid-2030s is a reasonable target.
Tennessee issues Type One Energy a fusion-specific license
Tennessee regulators announced on August 31, 2026 what the state calls the nation's first license issued under a fusion-specific regulatory framework: a byproduct material license for Type One Energy's Project Infinity at TVA's retired Bull Run coal site in Clinton. The company says it intends to break ground in 2026 and expects a full startup by 2034.
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Marathon Fusion says its plasma centrifuge enriched lithium and hydrogen
Marathon Fusion announced on August 27, 2026 that it enriched hydrogen and lithium isotopes in its plasma centrifuge, aiming to cut tritium flow rates and processing system size in fusion plants by a factor of ten or more. Covalent certified the lithium-6 enrichment; the hydrogen separation results are not yet independently verified, according to Heatmap News.
Pacific Fusion breaks ground on a $1 billion fusion campus in Albuquerque
Pacific Fusion broke ground on August 25, 2026 on a $1 billion Research and Manufacturing Campus at Mesa del Sol in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where it will build its Demonstration System: a pulser-driven inertial fusion machine designed to achieve net facility gain by 2030 and fusion bursts exceeding 100 megajoules. The National Nuclear Security Administration and the company signed a memorandum of understanding on fusion collaboration the same day.
LLNL and Pacific Fusion push Sirius pulser past 3,000 shots
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Pacific Fusion completed a 3,000-shot reliability campaign on the Sirius pulsed-power prototype, reaching 60 gigawatts per 100-nanosecond pulse at 95 percent energy efficiency by May 15, 2026. The CRADA-funded results, published jointly by the lab and the private fusion company on July 16-17, 2026, are the data behind Pacific Fusion's plan to scale the impedance-matched Marx generator architecture toward a full high-yield fusion driver.