Fusion energy startup General Fusion announced that it has begun its plans to build a fusion power plant with funding from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and others. It is said that the demonstration fusion power plant is scheduled to begin operation in 2025.
General Fusion, a Canadian-based startup, announced that it has successfully raised $65 million in funding on December 16 (local time) and has completed the Series E investment round. General Fusion CEO Christopher Mouri said in an announcement that the success of this financing is evidence that officials around the world are starting to take action to realize fusion power. It was made clear that the project for the construction of a nuclear fusion demonstration power plant was officially started.
The fusion power that General Fusion is planning is to produce energy through nuclear fusion reactions such as the shining of stars such as the sun. There are two types of fusion reactor methods, magnetic field confinement and inertial confinement, but General Fusion employs a magnetized target fusion (MTF) method that combines these two methods.
The nuclear fusion reactor, which is the heart of the power plant, has a ball-shaped appearance with countless pistons. For power generation, plasma generated by ionizing hydrogen gas is first blown into a fusion reactor vessel. The inner wall of the fusion reactor vessel is covered with liquid metal, and the liquid metal is pressurized through a piston. Under this pressure, the plasma triggers a fusion reaction.
The liquid metal heated by nuclear fusion energy is sent to a heat exchanger, and generating electrical energy by this heat is the basic structure of a fusion reactor made by General Fusion.
General Fusion has so far raised $50 million from Canadian government funds and $100 million from Bezos-owned investors, and raised more than $200 million from around the world. It is estimated that about $300 million will be required to complete the demonstration power plant project, and General Fusion plans to continue to raise funds from venture capitals. CEO Mowoori expressed ambition for early realization of nuclear fusion development by saying that it aims to start development faster than ITER through an international thermonuclear fusion test with a scale of $25 billion in which 35 countries participate. Related information can be found here .