Helion has $1 billion and 3 years to figure out fusion-powered energy – The firm’s latest Series F round brings the total investment into Helion over the $1 billion line, and it’s aiming to begin delivering power from a single fusion 50-MW plant to Microsoft by 2028.
https://newatlas.com/energy/helion-1-billion-3-years-fusion-clean-energy/
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From the article
>Washington-based fusion energy company Helion just raised US$425 million in fresh funding for its bid to be the first to produce usable electricity through nuclear fusion. The firm’s latest Series F round brings the total investment into Helion over the $1 billion line, and it’s aiming to begin [delivering power from a single fusion 50-MW plant to Microsoft by 2028](https://newatlas.com/energy/helion-microsoft-fusion-2028/?itm_source=newatlas&itm_medium=article-body).
Also from the article
>It remains to be seen if that will be enough to get Helion system’s up and running within its deadline. The firm has taken on the gargantuan task of efficiently and affordably generating zero-carbon electricity, and signed a legally binding agreement to face financial penalties if it fails to supply Microsoft with electricity within three years.
This really sounds way too good to be true. I think that if we were on the doorstep of commercial fusion energy we’d be hearing a lot more about it. I’d be super excited to see this be true, but I’m certainly not holding my breath.
This is going to fail. Fusion will not come about until every single person alive today is long, long dead.
Well why would companies sign a contract for something that seems scientifically unachievable within 3 years?
LOL, 3 years fusion, at same time we can’t make nuclear reactor without at least 3 years of delays
This article on Nature about the delay in the ITER project is a good reference to put these numbers in perspective: [https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02247-2](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02247-2) . Not saying that private companies cannot achieve the targets on fusion energy before ITER; actually, even some scientists believe so according to the article. It’s just that there is no way they will be doing it at a commercial level in three years
> Nuclear fusion is also ridiculously expensive. For reference, The ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) project in France broke ground in 2007, and is expected to run up a bill of $22 billion by the time it goes live in 2034.
That just says ITER is expensive. ITER is an enormous tokamak, being built by a very inefficient international consortium, using obsolete superconductors. CFS is building a more modern tokamak that should do the same thing for way less cost, and Helion uses an entirely different design.
> Plus, Helium-3, which is used as a fuel in the reaction, is awfully hard to come by on Earth, to the point that it could be more economical to capture it from the Moon.
Helion will just need deuterium as the initial fuel. Deuterium is a fusion fuel in its own right, is absurdly abundant on Earth, and the waste product of deuterium fusion is helium-3. They’ll have a mix of the two reactions, D-He3 to produce most of the energy and D-D to generate more He3.
Guys! We’ve almost figured out a new way to…boil water
🤣 2028 will become 2040 very quickly. The same as getting to Mars, creating AGI, or getting people to like/use AR VR at scale.
Just more bull 💩 and hype
Yep, some things never change: nuclear fusion coming to you in 3 years time ever since early 1950s.
Cool, but they need $9 billion more for the remaining 27 years
Financial penalties in a **legally binding** agreement? With a startup running on funding? Iron. Clad. What else can I say?
When they run out of money, the only thing they can pay with is patents that probably don’t work.
No way. I’ll consider fusion progress to be fantastic if we can sustain a reactor for over an hour by 2028.
I am a believer in fusion energy but not in 3 years.