Chesterfield Planning Commission greenlights nuclear fusion plant – It would be the first fusion plant connected to a commercial power grid.

From the article

The Chesterfield Planning Commission greenlit an application for a conditional use permit that would allow [Commonwealth Fusion Systems](https://cfs.energy/) to build a fusion power plant in the county, [the first of its kind in the world](https://www.vpm.org/news/2024-12-18/youngkin-chesterfield-commonwealth-fusion-systems).

Ben Byboth, CFS’ director of business development and strategy, took the Planning Commission through his company’s plans Tuesday afternoon.

He talked the commission through the central engine of a [fusion reactor](https://www.energy.gov/science/doe-explainsfusion-reactions), a doughnut-shaped, magnet-lined container known as a [tokamak](https://www.energy.gov/science/doe-explainstokamaks). A tokamak accelerates plasma particles of a hydrogen isotope to force together the nuclei of atoms that naturally repel each other. That generates heat that converts water to steam that turns turbines to generate power.

“There’s been over 150 tokamaks around the world, but this will be the first used to generate electricity,” Byboth told VPM News after his presentation.

Byboth told VPM News that fusion is a safer form of power generation than [nuclear fission](https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/fission-and-fusion-what-difference): “Fusion is very different from the way you think of traditional nuclear power. Fusion is the opposite process. There’s no chance of a meltdown, no runaway reaction, there’s no uranium or plutonium, it’s an inherently safe machine.”

Politicians from both sides of the aisle lauded the project as a clean and efficient energy source that would generate necessary jobs and power when it was [unveiled last year](https://www.governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/news-releases/2024/december/name-1037752-en.html#:~:text=RICHMOND%2C%20VA%20%E2%80%94%20Governor%20Glenn%20Youngkin,permanent%20jobs%20in%20the%20region.). Most residents who offered public comment Tuesday approved, though Jerry Turner voiced concern about the materials needed to host reactions that generate so much heat.

“Controlling that material is going to be very expensive and you better hope nothing goes wrong,” he told the commission. “There’s always a chance of failure, I don’t care what you’re doing. Hopefully they know what they’re doing.”

It feels almost surreal that finally something is being done.