RICHMOND, British Columbia, March 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- General Fusion’s Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) demonstration, Lawson Machine 26 (LM26), has successfully formed a magnetized plasma in the machine’s target chamber—a significant achievement in the operation of this world-first machine. LM26 is now forming plasmas daily as General Fusion’s team optimizes performance in preparation for its next step—compressing plasmas with a lithium liner to create fusion and heating from compression. LM26 is tracking toward game-changing technical milestones that will advance the company’s ultimate mission: generating zero-carbon fusion energy for the grid in the next decade.
The culmination of over 20 years of technological advancement, LM26 is designed to achieve a series of results that demonstrate MTF: 10 million degrees Celsius (1 keV), 100 million degrees Celsius (10 keV), and scientific breakeven equivalent (100% Lawson) in a commercially relevant way. Designed, assembled, and operational within 16 months of project launch, LM26 is a testament to the company’s ability to move quickly and achieve meaningful milestones.
“We’ve built 24 plasma injectors, created over 200,000 plasmas, and generated fusion neutrons from plasma compressions – de-risking LM26 and preparing us for this new chapter at General Fusion,” said Dr. Michel Laberge, Founder and Chief Science Officer, General Fusion. “We’re ready to make some fusion happen in LM26!”
“We are doing what we do best – nimbly advancing our transformative technology and getting real results that matter,” said Greg Twinney, CEO, General Fusion. “Unlike other approaches, MTF is designed from the ground up to produce practical power. As a result, our path to delivering clean fusion energy to homes and businesses following LM26 is more straightforward and streamlined than other technologies.”
This milestone is made possible by longstanding support from the Canadian government, including CA$69 million from the Strategic Innovation Fund since 2019, which assisted the company in attracting private capital, contributing to the CA$440 million total funds raised to date. As a result, General Fusion has injected significant value into the Canadian economy and its burgeoning fusion energy ecosystem. In fact, since 2019, General Fusion has returned $3 to the Canadian economy through global private investment for every public dollar invested. The company has also returned approximately CA$141 million dollars to the local B.C. economy since 2019.
“General Fusion is a homegrown success story showing the value of Canadian innovation,” said the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. “We are proud to champion their progress as they advance their incredible clean fusion energy technology.”
“General Fusion’s work is reinforcing Canada’s status as a powerful innovator in nuclear science and technology,” said the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources Canada. “Through a combination of federal investment, industry collaboration, and academic research, our nuclear industry is poised to seize the global economic opportunities before us – while growing jobs in Canada and protecting our energy economy. I am pleased to see General Fusion make significant progress in their work to foster energy innovation, increase productivity, and ensure continued British Columbian and Canadian leadership in the economy of the future.”
Quick Facts:
- Fusion energy is the ultimate clean energy solution – it is the energy source that powers the sun and stars. Fusion is the process by which two light nuclei merge to form a heavier one, producing a massive amount of energy.
- General Fusion’s Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) technology is designed to scale for cost-efficient power plants. It uses mechanical compression to create fusion conditions in short pulses, eliminating the need for expensive lasers or superconducting magnets. An MTF power plant is designed to produce its own fuel and inherently includes a method to extract the energy and put it to work.
- When commercialized, a single General Fusion power plant will be designed to provide zero-carbon power to approximately 150,000 Canadian homes, with the ability to be placed close to energy demand, minimizing the need for long transmission lines or pipelines and cost competitive with other energy sources.
- The company’s approach is ideal for repowering existing power generation sites and industrial steam heat use. In its current design, a General Fusion power plant will produce about 300 MWe from two 150 MWe machines running in tandem.
About General Fusion
General Fusion is pursuing a fast and practical approach to commercial fusion energy and is headquartered in Richmond, Canada. The company was established in 2002 and is funded by a global syndicate of leading energy venture capital firms, industry leaders, and technology pioneers. Learn more at www.generalfusion.com.
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