Fuse Energy Technologies Corporation

Fuse Energy Technologies Corporation
Company typePrivate
IndustryDefense, fusion power
Founded2019 (2019)
FounderJ.C. Btaiche
HeadquartersSan Leandro, California, United States
Number of employees
53 (2024)
Websitewww.f.energy

Fuse Energy Technologies Corporation (also known as Fuse) is a U.S.-based fusion defense company that provides radiation testing services for national security customers as a path to commercial fusion power. It builds advanced radiation machines to test the resilience of governments and commercial hardware through short bursts of radiation.[1] Fuse is also developing a fusion generator able to deliver clean energy.[1] It was founded by J.C. Btaiche in 2019 and is headquartered in San Leandro, California.[1][2]

History

In 2019, at 19 years old, J.C. Btaiche founded Fuse to evaluate various fusion power methods.[3][4] Fuse ultimately chose to develop an advanced pulsed power machine able to power a MagLIF Z-pinch magneto-inertial fusion (MIF) device.[5]

In February 2024, Fuse was awarded a contract from the United States Air Force to develop new nuclear effects testing options for the military.[6][7] Fuse conducted a live-fire, six-stage test of the world's first high-energy, high-power impedance-matched Marx generator (IMG), named TITAN, and published experimental results from the machine in Nature Scientific Reports in July 2024.[8] TITAN will serve as Fuse's pulsed power driver for future fusion generators. In the same year, former National Nuclear Security Administrator and Energy Department Under Secretary Lisa Gordon-Hagerty joined the company's board of directors.[3] In 2024, Fuse also announced it was developing designs for two more fusion platforms: a test platform named Z-Star and a pilot fusion plant named Apeiron I.[3]

At its San Leandro headquarters, Fuse operates a radiation facility which opening was covered by Wired magazine.[2]

Fuse has contracts with the U.S. Air Force, the National Nuclear Security Administration, and cooperative research and development agreements (CRADA) with Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory.[1][4][9]

Former Chief Engineer at Los Alamos National Laboratory, James Owen serves as the president of the company's federal subsidiary, Fuse Federal, LLC.[10][11] Former Afghanistan base chief for the CIA Laura Thomas serves as the company's chief strategy officer.[1][4] Former Atomic Energy Organization of Iran nuclear scientist Vahid Damideh serves as the company's chief engineer.[4]

Investors in Fuse include Bracket Capital, Tamarack Global, and Buckley Ventures.[1][12] According to Bloomberg News, the company was valued at over $200 million in September 2024.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Nuclear Startup Fuse Valued at Over $200 Million in New Funding". Financial Post. September 12, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Lanier, Jaron. "Inside a Fusion Startup's Insane, Top-Secret Opening Ceremony". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved April 26, 2025.
  3. ^ a b c Zisk, Rachael (September 16, 2024). "Fuse Energy Technologies Raises $32M". Ignition News - Nuclear energy news. Retrieved April 26, 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d Jeans, David (July 3, 2024). "Why Top Nuclear Experts and Ex-CIA Brass Joined A High School Grad's Tiny Fusion Startup". Forbes. Retrieved April 26, 2025.
  5. ^ Mehlhorn, Thomas A. (February 28, 2024). "From KMS Fusion to HB11 Energy and Xcimer Energy, a personal 50 year IFE perspective". Physics of Plasmas. 31 (2): 020602. doi:10.1063/5.0170661. ISSN 1070-664X.
  6. ^ Vincent, Brandi (February 28, 2024). "Air Force invests in new nuclear effects testing prototypes". DefenseScoop. Retrieved April 26, 2025.
  7. ^ Stanczyk, Sarah (February 27, 2025). "The Convergence of VC and DOE in Fusion Technology". APELC. Retrieved April 26, 2025.
  8. ^ Damideh, Vahid; Btaiche, J. C.; Ho, Alex; Spielman, R. B.; Lehr, Jane M.; Mehlhorn, T. A.; Hassen, Isaac; Akoulov, Alexei; Aranfar, Elahe; McDonald, Alex; Tochon, Pierre; Choudhury, Ayan; Beaulieu, Emile; Tan, Hao Xian; Yu, Anson (July 23, 2024). "Experimental results of a 330 GW impedance-matched Marx generator". Scientific Reports. 14 (1): 16889. doi:10.1038/s41598-024-67774-4. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 11266602.
  9. ^ "Los Alamos National Laboratory chief engineer joins nuclear fusion startup Fuse". Reuters. November 22, 2024.
  10. ^ Lee, Sing; Damideh, Vahid; Btaiche, J. C. (October 1, 2023). "MagLIF: Dynamics and energetics of liner and fuel". Vacuum. 216 112471. doi:10.1016/j.vacuum.2023.112471. ISSN 0042-207X.
  11. ^ "Los Alamos National Laboratory's James Owen Leaving Lab After Distinguished 30-Year Career To Enter Private Sector". ladailypost.com. Retrieved June 15, 2025.
  12. ^ "Exclusive: Tamarack Global raises $72M for second deep tech fund". Axios. October 30, 2024. Retrieved June 15, 2025.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.