A company linked to MIT says it will build the world’s first grid-scale nuclear power plant

Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a startup that emerged from a project at MIT research laboratories, announced plans this week to begin construction on what it calls “the world’s first grid-scale fusion power plant.” The plant, which is expected to begin operating sometime in the early 2030s, According to the companyIt will be built in Chesterfield County, Virginia.

The plan is certainly ambitious, starting with how it will generate power. Nuclear fusion is an extremely difficult process that involves fusing two light atomic nuclei into one heavier atom, releasing an enormous amount of energy. It is expected to produce four times the power Such as nuclear fission reactions. The reaction generated by nuclear fusion is the same type of reaction that powers the sun.

It is not difficult to imagine why one would want to be able to harness the sun’s energy. It’s really hard, you know, to do that. So far, nuclear fusion has proven elusive, at least in a way that could produce usable energy. In 2022, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California will find it Nuclear fusion has reached ignition. For the first time, which means they succeeded in producing excess energy from reactions. Before this breakthrough Since it has been repeatedProducing the reaction requires more energy than the energy that comes from it.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems has not yet achieved excess energy production, For every future. In fact, the company has not yet finished building the project Smaller reactor Which is designed to serve as a proof of concept for a larger future factory. This project will continue, but it seems that the startup has decided to go into action assuming that everything will work out rather than checking the boxes first.

The company is Promising Once this larger reactor in Virginia is operational, it will produce 400 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 150,000 homes. That would be great! It also seems a bit ambitious based on the 0 MW currently generated from this process.

There is a reason Nuclear fusion has proven elusive Not yet, but perhaps now that the seal on ignition has been broken, developments in space will come quickly and steadily. With $2 billion in funding behind it already, Commonwealth Fusion Systems has as good a chance as anyone of finding out. If not, maybe he can figure out a way to harness the energy generated by burning all that money.