fusion energy

A US lawmaker says the commercialization of fusion energy will 'change everything,' arguing that bringing the technology to market would transform the global energy landscape. The comments add to growing political and industry momentum around fusion, which promises abundant carbon-free power but remains years away from widespread commercial deployment.

Fusion startup Helion Energy has pushed back its timeline for delivering commercial electricity, revising expectations around its Orion project and its agreement to supply power to Microsoft. The change comes as the company, backed by OpenAI's Sam Altman, continues work on demonstrating net electricity from fusion. Observers are debating whether the delay reflects realistic engineering challenges or a pattern of shifting milestones in the emerging fusion industry.

A report from the Genesis Mission initiative examines how artificial intelligence is being applied to fusion energy research and biological design. The document highlights the role of AI and high-performance computing in accelerating scientific discovery in these fields. Details of the report's specific findings and the response from researchers have not yet been widely reported.

The Albuquerque Journal takes readers inside Sandia National Laboratories' Z machine in New Mexico, the world's most powerful pulsed-power facility. Originally built to study materials under nuclear weapons conditions, the device is now central to research on fusion energy, exploring how the same physics that powers warheads could one day deliver clean, abundant power.

The US Department of Energy has extended the operating contract for the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, which is managed by Princeton University. The extension comes as the lab pushes into AI-driven fusion research, but some raised concerns about how the facility is being managed under the current arrangement. The lab remains a key federal fusion energy research center.