Zap Energy Goes Fission AND Fusion

Fusion Energy

On Wednesday, May 7, The Fusion Report hosts Fusion 2035: The 9-Year Shot Clock, a half-day webcast bringing seven companies onto one stage to pressure-test the mid-2030s commercial timeline. Inertia, TAE Technologies, Thea Energy, Type One Energy, Realta Fusion, Peak Nano, and E&P Technologies each take 20 minutes, followed by a 45-minute live panel moderated by Mike Heumann of Ignition Research.

Fusion Energy

Japan’s Helical Fusion closed its Series B at JPY 2.7 billion ($17M US), bringing total funding to roughly JPY 9.8 billion ($61.4M US). The company also launched the Helix Program Official Partners with three founding industrial collaborators: NICHIAS, Hasetora Spinning, and Seno Kisen. Manufacturing for the Helix HARUKA demonstration magnets is now underway.

Fusion Energy

Commonwealth Fusion Systems CEO Bob Mumgaard pegged SPARC’s turn-on to 2027 and teed up construction of the company’s 400 MW Virginia commercial plant to begin immediately after, in a Reuters NEXT interview. The UK Atomic Energy Authority took a strategic position in First Light Fusion’s £25 million first close, and General Fusion scheduled its April 29 Analyst Day at the Nasdaq MarketSite as its proposed $1 billion SVAC combination nears close. Peak Nano and E&P Technologies co-authored a piece on how impedance-matched generators are reshaping the capacitor stack behind inertial confinement fusion.

Fusion Energy

Part 4 of The Fusion Report’s Decathlon series covers three more magnetic confinement approaches. Z-pinch machines run massive currents through plasma. Field-reversed configurations form self-stabilizing plasma rings. Magnetic mirrors trap plasma in open-ended bottles. Meet the companies betting on each: Zap Energy, Helion, TAE Technologies, Realta Fusion and more.

Fusion Energy

The UK’s Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) program has awarded Tokamak Energy a £70M ($95M) contract to build high-temperature superconductor (HTS) magnets for its prototype fusion power plant. The deal puts Tokamak Energy alongside Commonwealth Fusion Systems as a premier magnetics vendor, and signals the UK’s commitment to a sovereign fusion supply chain.

Fusion Energy

The UK cemented its bid for fusion leadership this week with a £1.3 billion National Fusion Energy Strategy and a £70 million STEP magnet contract awarded to Tokamak Energy. General Fusion named Ontario Power Generation Board Chair Wendy Kei to its Board as it prepares for a Nasdaq listing, and Inertia Enterprises signed a trio of R&D agreements with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to commercialize inertial fusion. The Fusion Report also covers highlights from the 2026 ARPA-E Innovation Summit and Part 3 of the Fusion Decathlon, Mike Heumann’s deep dive into magnetic fusion energy solutions.

Fusion Energy

The third installment of The Fusion Decathlon series turns to magnetic fusion energy (MFE) solutions. The article traces the 75-year arc of tokamak development from the Soviet T-1 to ITER and Commonwealth Fusion Systems’ SPARC, then examines stellarators from Germany’s record-setting W7-X to commercial ventures by Type One Energy, Proxima Fusion, Thea Energy, and Renaissance Fusion.

Fusion Energy

Inertia Enterprises announced one of the largest private sector-led collaborations in the history of the U.S. national lab system, signing two Strategic Partnership Projects and a CRADA alongside a licensing agreement covering nearly 200 LLNL patents. Separately, the DOE’s Jefferson National Accelerator Facility received its second round of funding for a spin-polarized fusion fuel project that could increase the likelihood of fusion reactions by 50%.