Before launching into the news, I have a few explanatory bits, which can be easily skipped.
Fusion energy
There’s a lot of interest in fusion energy, a form of nuclear energy, that promises to be sustainable and ‘clean’. Adam Stein’s May 29, 2024 article “Nuclear fusion: the true, the false and the uncertain” for Polytechique insights (Institut polytechnique de Paris) tempers some of the enthusiasm/hype about fusion energy. In this excerpt, he examines claims about ‘clean’ energy, Note: A link has been removed,
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#2 Fusion will become a source of clean, limitless energy
TRUE — Fusion is generally seen as “clean” energy.
It produces substantially less radioactive “waste” than fission – though it is possible that with emerging technologies, waste from fusion and fission could be reused. Still, like other nuclear fission, fusion will require appropriate and comprehensive oversight. One concern is that the reaction could be used to generate fissile materials usable in weapons. Fusion machines and related reactions do not directly produce material useful for weapons. The reaction does, however, create an enormous amount of neutrons.
On the bright side, these neutrons could help generate more fuel for the fusion reaction — many designs plan to incorporate a “breeding blanket,” a layer of materials that acts as heat insulation, but is also lined with materials that can capture the neutrons to create more tritium. Uranium or thorium could also be placed in some breeding blanket designs. The concern is that these materials, once irradiated, could generate uranium-235 that can be used in nuclear weapons. Physical ways to deter this process exist, such as requiring the use of lithium‑6 in the blanket modules. The IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] will be important in ensuring non-proliferation safeguards and oversight.
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ITER
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is (from its Wikipedia entry), Note: Links have been removed,
ITER (initially the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, iter meaning “the way” or “the path” in Latin)[4][5][6] is an international nuclear fusion research and engineering megaproject aimed at creating energy through a fusion process similar to that of the Sun. It is being built next to the Cadarache facility in southern France.[7][8] Upon completion of the main reactor and first plasma, planned for 2033–2034,[9][10] ITER will be the largest of more than 100 fusion reactors built since the 1950s, with six times the plasma volume of JT-60SA in Japan, the largest tokamak operating today.[11][12][13]
The long-term goal of fusion research is to generate electricity; ITER’s stated purpose is scientific research, and technological demonstration of a large fusion reactor, without electricity generation.[14][11] ITER’s goals are to achieve enough fusion to produce 10 times as much thermal output power as thermal power absorbed by the plasma for short time periods; to demonstrate and test technologies that would be needed to operate a fusion power plant including cryogenics, heating, control and diagnostics systems, and remote maintenance; to achieve and learn from a burning plasma; to test tritium breeding; and to demonstrate the safety of a fusion plant.[12][8]
ITER is funded and operated by seven member parties: China, the European Union, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States. In the immediate aftermath of Brexit, the United Kingdom continued to participate in ITER through the EU’s Fusion for Energy (F4E) program until September 2023.[15][1][2] Switzerland participated through Euratom and F4E until 2021,[16] though it is poised to rejoin in 2026 following subsequent negotiations with the EU.[17][18] ITER also has cooperation agreements with Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan and Thailand.[19]
Construction of the ITER complex in France started in 2013,[20] and assembly of the tokamak began in 2020.[21] The initial budget was close to €6 billion, but the total price of construction and operations is projected to be from €18 to €22 billion;[22][23] other estimates place the total cost between $45 billion and $65 billion, though these figures are disputed by ITER.[24][25] Regardless of the final cost, ITER has already been described as the most expensive science experiment of all time,[26] the most complicated engineering project in human history,[27] and one of the most ambitious human collaborations since the development of the International Space Station (€100 billion or $150 billion budget) and the Large Hadron Collider (€7.5 billion budget).[note 1][28][29]
ITER’s planned successor, the EUROfusion-led DEMO, is expected to be one of the first fusion reactors to produce electricity in an experimental environment.[30]
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Tokamak
As this comes up again in the next section, here’s more about the tokamak from its Wikipedia entry, Note: Links have been removed,
A tokamak (/ˈtoʊkəmæk/; Russian: токамáк) is a device which uses a powerful magnetic field generated by external magnets to confine plasma in the shape of an axially symmetrical torus.[1] The tokamak is one of several types of magnetic confinement devices being developed to produce controlled thermonuclear fusion power. The tokamak concept is currently one of the leading candidates for a practical fusion reactor for providing minimally polluting electrical power.[2]
In a landmark achievement for fusion energy, ITER has completed all components for the world’s largest, most powerful pulsed superconducting electromagnet system.
ITER is an international collaboration of more than 30 countries to demonstrate the viability of fusion—the power of the sun and stars—as an abundant, safe, carbon-free energy source for the planet.
The final component was the sixth module of the Central Solenoid, built and tested in the United States. When it is assembled at the ITER site in Southern France, the Central Solenoid will be the system’s most powerful magnet, strong enough to lift an aircraft carrier.
The Central Solenoid will work in tandem with six ring-shaped Poloidal Field (PF) magnets, built and delivered by Russia, Europe, and China.
The fully assembled pulsed magnet system will weigh nearly 3,000 tons. It will function as the electromagnetic heart of ITER’s donut-shaped reactor, called a Tokamak.
How does this pulsed superconducting electromagnet system work?
Step 1. A few grams of hydrogen fuel—deuterium and tritium gas—are injected into ITER’s gigantic Tokamak chamber.
Step 2. The pulsed magnet system sends an electrical current to ionize the hydrogen gas, creating a plasma, a cloud of charged particles.
Step 3. The magnets create an “invisible cage” that confines and shapes the ionized plasma.
Step 4. External heating systems raise the plasma temperature to 150 million degrees Celsius, ten times hotter than the core of the sun.
Step 5. At this temperature, the atomic nuclei of plasma particles combine and fuse, releasing massive heat energy.
A tenfold energy gain
At full operation, ITER is expected to produce 500 megawatts of fusion power from only 50 megawatts of input heating power, a tenfold gain. At this level of efficiency, the fusion reaction largely self-heats, becoming a “burning plasma.”
By integrating all the systems needed for fusion at industrial scale, ITER is serving as a massive, complex research laboratory for its 30-plus member countries, providing the knowledge and data needed to optimize commercial fusion power.
A global model
ITER’s geopolitical achievement is also remarkable: the sustained collaboration of ITER’s seven members—China, Europe, India, Japan, Korea, Russia, and the United States. Thousands of scientists and engineers have contributed components from hundreds of factories on three continents to build a single machine.
Pietro Barabaschi, ITER Director-General, says, “What makes ITER unique is not only its technical complexity but the framework of international cooperation that has sustained it through changing political landscapes.”
“This achievement proves that when humanity faces existential challenges like climate change and energy security, we can overcome national differences to advance solutions.”
“The ITER Project is the embodiment of hope. With ITER, we show that a sustainable energy future and a peaceful path forward are possible.”
Major progress
In 2024, ITER reached 100 percent of its construction targets. With most of the major components delivered, the ITER Tokamak is now in assembly phase. In April 2025, the first vacuum vessel sector module was inserted into the Tokamak Pit, about 3 weeks ahead of schedule.
Extending collaboration to the private sector
The past five years have witnessed a surge in private sector investment in fusion energy R&D. In November 2023, the ITER Council recognized the value and opportunity represented by this trend.
They encouraged the ITER Organization and its Domestic Agencies to actively engage with the private sector, to transfer ITER’s accumulated knowledge to accelerate progress toward making fusion a reality.
In 2024, ITER launched a private sector fusion engagement project, with multiple channels for sharing knowledge, documentation, data, and expertise, as well as collaboration on R&D. This tech transfer initiative includes sharing information on ITER’s global fusion supply chain, another way to return value to Member governments and their companies.
In April 2025, ITER hosted a public-private workshop to collaborate on the best technological innovation to solve fusion’s remaining challenges.
The ITER experiment under construction in southern France. The tokamak building is the mirrored structure at center. Courtesy ITER Organization/EJF Riche.
How have ITER’s Members contributed to this achievement?
Under the ITER Agreement, Members contribute most of the cost of building ITER in the form of building and supplying components. This arrangement means that financing from each Member goes primarily to their own companies, to manufacture ITER’s challenging technology. In doing so, these companies also drive innovation and gain expertise, creating a global fusion supply chain.
Europe, as the Host Member, contributes 45 percent of the cost of the ITER Tokamak and its support systems. China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia, and the United States each contribute 9 percent, but all Members get access to 100 percent of the intellectual property.
United States
The United States has built the Central Solenoid, made of six modules, plus a spare.
The U.S. has also delivered to ITER the “exoskeleton” support structure that will enable the Central Solenoid to withstand the extreme forces it will generate. The exoskeleton is comprised of more than 9,000 individual parts, manufactured by eight U.S. suppliers. Additionally, the U.S. has fabricated about 8 percent of the Niobium-Tin (Nb3Sn) superconductors used in ITER’s Toroidal Field magnets.
Russia
Russia has delivered the 9-meter-diameter ring-shaped Poloidal Field magnet that will crown the top of the ITER Tokamak.
Working closely with Europe, Russia has also produced approximately 120 tonnes of Niobium-Titanium (NbTi) superconductors, comprising about 40 percent of the total required for ITER’s Poloidal Field magnets.
Additionally, Russia has produced about 20 percent of the Niobium-Tin (Nb3Sn) superconductors for ITER’s Toroidal Field magnets.
And Russia has manufactured the giant busbars that will deliver power to the magnets at the required voltage and amperage, as well as the upper port plugs for ITER’s vacuum vessel sectors.
Europe
Europe has manufactured four of the ring-shaped Poloidal Field magnets onsite in France, ranging from 17 to 24 meters in diameter.
Europe has worked closely with Russia to manufacture the Niobium-Titanium (NbTi) superconductors used in PF magnets 1 and 6.
Europe has also delivered 10 of ITER’s Toroidal Field magnets and has produced a substantial portion of the Niobium-Tin (Nb3Sn) superconductors used in these TF magnets.
And Europe is creating five of the nine sectors of the Tokamak vacuum vessel, the donut-shaped chamber where fusion will take place.
China
China, under an arrangement with Europe, has manufactured a 10-metre Poloidal Field magnet. It has already been installed at the bottom of the partially assembled ITER Tokamak.
China has also contributed the Niobium-Titanium (NbTi) superconductors for PF magnets 2, 3, 4, and 5, about 65 percent of the PF magnet total—plus about 8 percent of the Toroidal Field magnet superconductors.
Additionally, China is contributing 18 superconducting Correction Coil magnets, positioned around the Tokamak to fine-tune the plasma reactions.
China has delivered the 31 magnet feeders, the multi-lane thruways that will deliver the electricity to power ITER’s electromagnets as well as the liquid helium to cool the magnets to -269 degrees Celsius, the temperature needed for superconductivity.
Japan
Japan has produced and sent to the United States the 43 kilometers of Niobium-Tin (Nb3Sn) superconductor strand that was used to create the Central Solenoid modules.
Japan has also produced 8 of the 18 Toroidal Field (TF) magnets, plus a spare—as well as all the casing structures for the TF magnets.
Japan also produced 25 percent of the Niobium-Tin (Nb3Sn) superconductors that went into the Toroidal Field magnets.
Korea
Korea has produced the tooling used to pre-assemble ITER’s largest components, enabling ITER to fit the Toroidal Field coils and thermal shields to the vacuum vessel sectors with millimetric precision.
Korea has also manufactured 20 percent of the Niobium-Tin (Nb3Sn) superconductors for the Toroidal Field magnets.
Additionally, Korea has manufactured the thermal shields that provide a physical barrier between the ultra-hot fusion plasma and the ultra-cold magnets.
And Korea has delivered four of the nine sectors of the Tokamak vacuum vessel.
India
India has fabricated the ITER Cryostat, the 30-metre high, 30-metre diameter thermos that houses the entire ITER Tokamak.
India has also provided the cryolines that distribute the liquid helium to cool ITER’s magnets.
Additionally, India has been responsible for delivering ITER’s cooling water system, the in-wall shielding of the Tokamak, and multiple parts of the external plasma heating systems.
In total, ITER’s magnet systems will comprise 10,000 tons of superconducting magnets, with a combined stored magnetic energy of 51 Gigajoules. The raw material to fabricate these magnets consisted of more than 100,000 kilometers of superconducting strand, fabricated in 9 factories in six countries.
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What are the technical specifications for each of ITER’s magnet systems?
Central Solenoid (cylindrical magnet)
Height: 18 meters (59 feet) Diameter: 4.25 meters (14 feet) Weight: ~1,000 tonnes Magnetic field strength: 13 Tesla (280,000 times stronger than the Earth’s magnetic field) Stored magnetic energy: 6.4 Gigajoules Will initiate and sustain a plasma current of 15 MA for 300-500 second pulses Fabricated in the United States Material: Niobium-tin (Nb₃Sn) superconducting strand produced in Japan Cooling: operated at 4.5 Kelvin (-269°C) using liquid helium cryogenics to maintain superconductivity Structure (exoskeleton): built to withstand 100 MN (meganewtons) of force—equivalent to twice the thrust of a space shuttle launch.
Poloidal Field Magnets (ring-shaped magnets)
Diameters: varying in range from 9 meters (PF1) to 10 meters (PF6) to 17 meters (PF2, PF5) to 25 meters (PF3, PF4) Weight: from 160 to 400 tonnes Fabricated in Russia, Europe (France) and China Material: niobium-titanium (NbTi) superconducting strand produced in Europe, China, and Russia Cooling: operated at 4.5 Kelvin (-269°C) using liquid helium cryogenics to maintain superconductivity
Toroidal Field Coils (D-shaped magnets, completed in late 2023)
Each coil: 17 meters high × 9 meters wide Weight: ~360 tonnes each Fabricated in Europe (Italy) and Japan Material: niobium-tin (Nb3Sn) superconducting strand produced in Europe, Korea, Russia, and the United States Cooling: operated at 4.5 Kelvin (-269°C) using liquid helium to maintain superconductivity
Correction Coils and Magnet Feeders
Correction Coils: manufactured by China; critical for fine plasma stability adjustments. Magnet Feeders: deliver cryogenics, electrical power, and instrumentation signals to the magnets; also produced by China
Vancouver’s (Canada) General Fusion news
Recently, there have been some big ups and downs for General Fusion as this May 5, 2025 General Fusion news release written as an open letter from the company’s Chief Executive Office (CEO), Greg Twinney
General Fusion has been at the forefront of fusion technology development for more than 20 years. Today, we stand as a world leader on the cusp of our most exciting technical milestone yet—and one of the most challenging financial moments in our history. We are closer than ever to delivering practical fusion, but success depends on securing the right financing partners to carry this breakthrough forward.
On April 29th [2025], we achieved a transformative milestone at our Vancouver, B.C., headquarters in Canada—we successfully compressed a large-scale magnetized plasma with lithium using our world-first LM26 fusion demonstration machine. The full, integrated system and diagnostics operated safely and as designed, and an early review of the data indicates we saw ion temperature and density increase, and our lithium liner successfully trapped the magnetic field. This was an incredible success for our first shot! What does this mean? From a technology perspective, we’re one step closer to bringing zero-carbon fusion energy to the electricity grid using our unique, home-grown Canadian technology that global industry leaders recognize as one of the most practical for commercialization.
Our incredible, innovative, and nimble team achieved these results about a year and a half after we launched the LM26 fusion demonstration program—designing, building, commissioning, optimizing, and operating on a rapid timeline with constrained capital. LM26 is the only machine of its kind in the world, designed and built to achieve the technical results required to scale a fusion technology to a practical power plant. It is backed by peer-reviewed scientific results published in 2024 and 2025 issues of Nuclear Fusion, making us one of only four private fusion companies in the world to have achieved and published meaningful fusion results on the path to scientific breakeven. We are also the only one with the machine already built to get there. Truly, there has never been a more promising time to be at—or invest in—General Fusion.
General Fusion has been around the block. We’ve proven a lot with a lean budget. We’re not a shiny new start-up with a drawing and a dream; we are experienced fusioneers with a clear view of the path to success and the machine to prove it. We’ve built a global network of partners and early adopters focused on a fusion technology—Magnetized Target Fusion—that is durable, cost-effective, fuel-sustainable, and practical. We are ready to execute our plan but are caught in an economic and geopolitical environment that is forcing us to wait.
Keeping a fusion company funded in today’s world requires more than just meaningful capital. It takes ambition, steadfast patience, a bold national vision aligned with the opportunity, and constant refreshing of the investor base as timelines stretch beyond typical fund horizons. Our mission has historically been supported financially by a mix of strong private investors and the Canadian federal government. We have been competing against aggressive nationally funded fusion programs around the world. We have risen to global leadership by charting a distinct course—founded on entrepreneurship and commercial focus—while others follow government-led or academic pathways. However, today’s funding landscape is more challenging than ever as investors and governments navigate a rapidly shifting and uncertain political and market climate.
This rapidly shifting environment has directly and immediately impacted our funding. Therefore, as a result of unexpected and urgent financing constraints, we are taking action now to protect our future with our game-changing technology and IP—including reducing both the size of our team and LM26 operations—while we navigate this difficult environment. We’re doing what resilient teams do and what we have done before: refocus, protect what matters, and keep building.
While this is a challenging time for General Fusion, it is also an attractive opportunity for those with the financial means to transform the world. Everything is in place—the technology, science, LM26, and the know-how and passion. All we need now is the capital to finish the job. We are opening our doors and actively seeking strategic options with investors, buyers, governments, and others who share our vision. Reach out now and become part of the future of energy.
Greg Twinney
Chief Executive Officer General Fusion, Inc.
Twinney also gave a May 8, 2025 radio interview(approximately 7 mins.) to Stephen Quinn of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) Early Edition.
May 8, 2025
General Fusion CEO, Greg Twinney tells Stephen Quinn how his company has made big breakthroughs in fusion energy – and how market chaos caused by President Trump has made it hard to find investors.
The interview provides an introduction to fusion energy and the company while this May 5, 2025 article by John Fingas for Betakit fills in some details, Note: Links have been removed,
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In a statement, General Fusion told BetaKit it was looking for $125 million USD (about $172.7 million CAD) to fulfill its goals. While the company didn’t share the scope of the layoffs, The Globe and Mail reported that the company let go of a quarter of staff.
General Fusion created its first magnetized plasma, which is needed for its fusion reactions, at its LM26 demonstration facility in March [2025], and conducted a large-scale test on April 29. It still plans to create plasma at a hotter 10 million C within months, and eventually to reach the 100-million-degree mark needed to achieve a “scientific breakeven equivalent” where LM26 could generate more energy than required for the reaction.
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The company ultimately hopes to deploy reactors based on its Magnetized Target Fusion technology, which creates fusion conditions in short pulses, by the mid-2030s. The technique theoretically costs less than the lasers or superconducting magnets used in designs like Tokamak reactors, and could be used in facilities close to the cities they serve. One 300-megawatt electrical plant powered by fusion could provide enough continuous power for 150,000 Canadian homes, the company claims.
The company has raised about $440 million CAD so far, including $69 million from the Government of Canada. Some of its private investors include Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Shopify founder Tobi Lütke, and engineering consultancy Hatch. Bob Smith, the former CEO of Bezos’s spaceflight company Blue Origin, became a strategic advisor for General Fusion in early April [2025].
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“We’re not a shiny new startup with a drawing and a dream; we are experienced fusioneers with a clear view of the path to success and the machine to prove it,” he [Greg Twinney, General Fusion CEO] said.
It seems logical to follow with this:
Business investments and fusion energy
First, here’s more about the agency, which released a 2025 report on investments in fusion energy. The European Union (EU) has created an organization known as Fusion for Energy (F4E), from its Wikipedia entry, Note: Links have been removed,
Fusion for Energy(F4E) is a joint undertaking of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) that is responsible for the EU’s contribution to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), the world’s largest scientific partnership aiming to demonstrate fusion as a viable and sustainable source of energy. The organisation is officially named European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy and was created under article 45 of the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community by the decision of the Council of the European Union on 27 March 2007 for a period of 35 years.[1]
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F4E recently released a report “Global investment in fusion private sector, 1st edition, Cutoff: 10 June 2025,” from the June 12, 2025 F4E press release,
The F4E Fusion Observatory has published its first-ever report, an analysis of global investment in the fusion private sector. Based on a collection of all available data, the analysis provides a picture of who is investing and where, showing rapid growth and significant geographical differences.
The figures reveal a sharp increase in investments in fusion start-ups in recent years. The total amount has grown from just over 1.5 billion EUR in 2020 to an estimated 9.9 billion EUR at present (June 2025), doubling in the last two years alone [emphasis mine]. The investment remains concentrated in the US, host of most private companies (38 out of 67), absorbing 60% of global funding. China comes second at 25%, with fewer projects (6) backed by large public funds [emphasis mine].
Meanwhile, Europe takes a smaller share of investment (5%) [emphasis mine], with Germany leading the continent at 460 M EUR million, just above the UK, at 416 M EUR. Among the EU’s seven private companies, the largest sums are received by Marvel Fusion and Focused Energy. F4E can support these emerging players by leveraging on its experience in large projects and knowledge of the market. For this purpose, F4E has an ongoing call inviting EU-based private fusion initiatives to collaborate.
The analysis goes on to present the origin and profile of the investors. While US funding is largely led by venture capital firms or big tech, those in the EU show a more even distribution between public and private investors.
As for the kinds of fusion concepts, magnetic confinement takes the lion’s share of global investment, at €6,1 billion, predominantly for Tokamaks (doughnut-shaped devices, similar to ITER). However, in Europe, inertial confinement technologies are the most funded in the private sector.
By contrast, when considering the public funding used for the in-kind contributions to ITER, the geographic distribution is rebalanced. The €6.8 billion invested by F4E in the EU supply chain is larger than other regions due to the EU’s larger share of the ITER project. This contribution has shaped a strong European industry, capable of delivering complex technologies for fusion. That said, investment in the supply chain, while substantial, has a different impact than equity in a fast-scaling fusion company.
The findings of the report will be discussed at the F4E Roundtable, a key stakeholder forum hosted this week by F4E in Barcelona. With these data-based insights, the F4E Observatory aims to support the policy conversation and help steer it towards the future EU fusion strategy.
It seems that Canadian fusion efforts are not on the EU’s radar.
Wrapping up
To state the obvious, it’s an exciting and volatile time. In addition to this latest breakthrough at ITER, my April 11, 2025 posting “The nuclear fusion energy race” covers some of what were then the latest international technical breakthroughs along with some coverage of how President Donald Trump’s tariffs were creating uncertainty for investors and, also, Bob Smith’s, former CEO of Jeff Bezos’ spaceflight company Blue Origin, recent appointment as a strategic advisor for General Fusion.
I wish General Fusion good luck in finding new investors and, while it’s not a perfect energy solution, I wish all the researchers the best as they race to find ways to produce energy more sustainably.
One last comment, it’s easy to forget in a time when Russia is conducting a war with Ukraine and Israel is conducting an ever evolving action against Palestine, Iran, and more that cooperation amongst ‘enemies’ is possible. The list of ITER full members (United States, Russia, Europe, China, Japan, Korea, India, Note: There are other member categories) is a reminder that even countries that often work at cross purposes can work together.
