After Latest ITER Delay, Senators Quiz Fusion Experts over Commercial Reactor Timelines

Fusion energy experts expressed fresh optimism at a Senate hearing this week about the prospect of commercializing fusion energy, despite some skepticism from senators over their projected timelines.

Fusion research company Helion Energy is “on track to have the first-ever commercially operating fusion plant in 2028” as part of a power purchase agreement with Microsoft, said Jackie Siebens, director of public affairs at the company. Meanwhile, the head of the Department of Energy’s fusion program, Jean Paul Allain, said he believes pilot fusion plants are possible “in the 2030s,” while adding that there are some approaches that could “get there even faster.”

Senators expressed support for continuing to pursue fusion energy, especially amid competition from China, but were doubtful that the technology is around the corner.

“Despite decades of research and a rapid increase in global investment in fusion energy technologies, no one has been able to produce fusion energy at the grid level, commercial scale,” said Committee Chair Joe Manchin (I-WV) in his opening statement.

The multinational ITER fusion research facility currently under construction in France announced this summer that the facility will not start full operations until 2039 — a four-year delay. Manchin contrasted that news with Helion’s claim that it can field a fusion power plant by 2028, which he said, “almost seems too good to be true.”

“When can we realistically expect the first fusion power plant to be online?” Manchin asked the hearing witnesses. “With ITER being knocked back as far as it is, which really alarmed us, how do you expect something to come on quicker than that?”

Siebens said that, unlike ITER’s tokamak design, Helion is pursuing a pulsed approach that repeatedly produces small amounts of fusion energy without needing to achieve steady-state operations.

Allain clarified that ITER will not function as a power plant but will produce industrial know-how that will be broadly relevant to companies pursuing commercial machines. He added that the act of building the machine has already produced important supply chains for fusion components, pointing to this as a key complementarity between the publicly funded ITER project and the private fusion endeavors. Patrick White, research director at the Nuclear Innovation Alliance, also testified that public investment in fusion science gives private investors greater confidence in the technology.

Allain highlighted DOE’s new strategy for expanding public-private partnerships in fusion and creating a robust fusion technology manufacturing network. He also shared that DOE will publish its first fusion science and technology roadmap in the coming fiscal year. That roadmap will include guidance on how the industry can make progress and measure its success.

“To realize fusion energy in a decadal timeframe, we must take bold action to address the critical scientific and technological gaps that remain and enable fusion energy to scale,” Allain said.

Racing China to harness fusion

Various senators on the committee expressed concerns about increasing competition from China in the pursuit of fusion energy.

“China is not only trying to beat us in science. They’re also working to corner the fusion energy supply chain by securing the market for critical materials needed to build fusion power plants,” Manchin said. Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), ranking member of the committee, referenced a recent Wall Street Journal article that suggests China is outspending the U.S. in fusion energy.

Barrasso also noted the potential role of fusion in powering energy-hungry AI applications and data centers. “If we can’t provide these facilities with affordable and reliable power, America is going to cede its leadership position of these critical technologies,” he said. “China understands this. They understand the race for artificial intelligence is also a race to secure the energy to power the computers.”

Barrasso also argued that China has the capacity to copy what the U.S. does and then “advance it in ways to get ahead of us, to leapfrog us.” Siebens offered support for this view later in the hearing, claiming that a Chinese company has openly said it plans to copy Helion’s design.

Contrary to many of the concerns raised about China in the hearing, Sen. Angus King (I-ME) questioned why there was not more appetite to collaborate with China on fusion, given its potential environmental benefits.

“Why does this have to be a competition with China? This isn’t a military technology. This is a civilian technology that’s going to affect all the rest of us. Why can’t this be a breakthrough in the relationship between our two countries where we work together?” King asked.

“I’d love to see a world where we are all working aggressively together toward deploying an energy technology that, as Senator Manchin said earlier, could potentially bring about world peace. The reality for us as a company, right now, is we see the real race here beginning after we demonstrate and deploy that first machine,” Siebens replied. “We think it’s a national security issue to ensure that, here in the U.S. and along with our allies, we can secure a supply chain that enables us to dominate this marketplace. Because if we don’t, China will.”