No fluff, all facts.

A lot's been going on in the last two weeks, especially as the U.S. government ramps up efforts to support the nuclear energy industry and continued tailwinds from the energy demands of AI/data centers.

Regulatory

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proposes the "removal of the 'as low as reasonably achievable' (ALARA) principle from all DOE directives and regulations." This would be a very big change to how radiation risks are managed. As referenced in the memo, dose rates below 5,000 mrem/year show no detectable increases in adverse health outcomes. 5,000 mrem/year is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) maximum dose for a radiation worker; here I am obligated to post the XKCD Radiation Chart to put radiation doses in context. The past policy of pushing doses to "as low as reasonably achievable" is likely not a sound principle and has probably caused "excessive economic and operational burdens" on the nuclear industry. That the NRC would need to also adjust their rules on ALARA for this to have the full impact that the nuclear industry needs. Last May the president ordered the NRC to "Adopt science-based radiation limits."

This is a fascinating area for me to watch, as it is at the intersection of the development of new technologies and public acceptance. Globally, there is a powerful, vocal minority of people who are afraid of radiation in a way that doesn’t make sense from a purely logical, technical point of view. Experiments on two stellarators, LHD and W7-X, were both delayed when locals protested against them due to their radiation generation potential; despite it being well contained within the experimental facilities and far less than anything a fission plant has produced. A proponent of ALARA may claim that such a policy is critical for getting the public’s trust, as any radiation release could cause strong negative reactions. An opponent of ALARA may claim that such a policy is part of the problem; it creates the false perception that any dose of radiation is harmful. I am optimistic that getting rid of ALARA will be beneficial in the long run for fission and fusion. I just hope the pendulum doesn’t swing too far in the other direction.

The NRC issued an updated “Vision and Strategy: Regulating Fusion Machines." It now explicitly incorporates ADVANCE Act implementation. It also adds a more concrete set of “path to commercialization” milestone indicators for industry readiness (Appendix B). The schedules are made more explicit (e.g., proposed rule and draft guidance in 2026, final rule and licensing guidance by the 12/31/2027 legislative deadline, and fee structure and inspection program in 2027). The action tables include concrete examples like reviews of Helion, Type One Energy, TAE, and CFS applications.

Fission news that could help fusion: Terrestrial Energy and Oklo sign Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreements with the DOE. The OTAs let these companies rapidly construct and operate experimental reactors on federal sites, with the companies bearing the costs but potentially gaining more agile regulatory approval, not having to go through lengthy NRC approval processes. This could be a strategy used by fusion companies as well.

Oh, how times have changed. In the pre-CFS days, we discussed the trade-offs of doing SPARC on a DOE site under their rules versus a non-DOE site under NRC rules. We thought that the NRC route would be easier for things like the use of tritium in SPARC, despite the NRC's lack of a clear pathway at that time for regulating fusion.

Funding

Type One Energy raises first the $87M of its Series B with target of $250M. If they raise the full $250M it would be a significant bolster to the team's R&D and design capabilities.

Avalanche Energy has raised $14.86M toward a target of $20M as indicated in its Form D filing. Note that coming up short of the target in a Form D does not indicate they were not able to sell the whole round, as a Form D is due within 15 days after the first sale and it doesn't have to be updated if more is sold.

Chinese startup Startorus Fusion raised ¥1 billion ($143 million) in Series A funding. Working on a high-field spherical torus, Startorus Fusion is basically the Tokamak Energy of China. I hope these funds help them build their negative-triangularity spherical tokamak, which would be a very interesting physics experiment.

Companies

TAE announces site selection criteria. One of the positives of TAE working to go public is the increased release of information like this. Although there was not much that was surprising in their requirements (e.g., be near a pool of talent), TAE did indicate they needed: "Minimum of 20 acres, facilitating construction of a planned 50 MWe fusion reactor, a future 350 – 500 MWe fusion reactor, and a next-generation reactor for advanced research."

Thea Energy’s fusion pilot plant pre-conceptual design was certified by a review panel. As part of the DOE Fusion Milestone Program, Thea Energy is the first to have their design reviewed by an external panel of experts. All companies taking part in this program have a pre-conceptual design review milestone that includes publishing the design (as Thea did in the last newsletter), so expect more in the coming year.

nT-Tao gets first plasma in its C3 fusion device. I'm still trying to figure out what they are doing, and I'm not convinced they know what they are doing (e.g., their power plant model on their website shows a complete lack of shielding but high detail in other systems).

First Light Fusion gets Joint Supply Chain Accreditation Register, enabling it as a trusted UK partner for supplying UK prime contractors and government agencies. This reinforces their pivot away from a fusion power prime and instead being a supply chain company.

People

CFS adds Stephane Bancel, the Chief Executive Officer of Moderna, to its Board of Directors. He was also an early investor in CFS.

Government programs

DARPA announces MARRS: Mechanisms for Amplification of fusion Reaction Rates in Solids. Yup, DARPA is funding cold fusion, a.k.a. low-energy nuclear reaction (LENR), research. At least this is a legitimate agency funding (hopefully) legitimate scientists rather than some crackpots fleecing investors. Some recent results that motiviated this program include techniques to increase the density of deuterium in solids as well as experimental observations that the fusion cross-section isn't as low as thought at ion energies lower than used in "hot" fusion. Despite these positive developments, fusion reaction rates are still far, far too low to make a practical low-energy nuclear reaction power source. They may get improved results but I anticipate a practicle energy source will not result from this work.

LHD concludes its experiments. LHD has hands-down the coolest-looking internals of any fusion experiment. LHD was an impressive and important machine. I congratulate everyone involved for their accomplishments!

Japan opens up the use of national research facilities to private fusion at the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, the National Institute for Fusion Science, and the University of Osaka's Institute of Laser Engineering, further demonstrating Japan's leadership in public-private partnerships.

Media and OpEds

CFS and Relativity Space CEOs release statement on "How fusion energy and AI can power the next era of energy demand." Nothing new here for those familiar with fusion and AI. Most surprising thing to me was seeing Eric Schmidt's affiliation listed as "Executive Chairman and CEO, Relativity Space," given everything else he has done and is doing, including being the former CEO of Google, investing in CFS and Pacific Fusion, and philanthropically supporting fusion R&D.

Energy markets

Meta signs up for 6.6 GW of fission power by 2035 in agreements with Vistra, TerraPower, and Oklo. This is the same amount of power as the city-state of Singapore consumes! The ramping up of support for the fission industry is a double-edged sword for fusion: on the one hand, it's great because it signals strong, growing demand for firm, base load power and a growing societal acceptance of nuclear energy (fission or fusion); on the other hand, a growing fission industry with stronger societal backing undercuts some of fusion's advantages. In the end, the world will probably be big and complex enough to need both.