BC Fusion Energy Developer of Non-Meltdown Carbon-Free Reactors Raises US $ 130 Million to Build Critical Test Facility

While the process of nuclear fission creates energy by splitting the nucleus of an atom, the fusion process does the same thing by combining them.Courtesy General Fusion

One of Canada’s most promising clean technology startups, General Fusion Inc., announced Tuesday that it had raised $ 130 million as it prepares to build a prototype nuclear fusion power plant to fuel its quest for a carbon-free power source to bring into the world.

General Fusion, based in Burnaby, BC, announced in December 2019 that it had raised $ 65 million for the round led by Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the Business Development Bank of Canada, among others is supported.

Now she has raised the other half of the funds. Investors added in the second round include another Singapore sovereign wealth fund – GIC – the technology investment firm IBX; Jameel Investment Management Co. from Saudi Arabia; nuclear-focused hedge fund Segra Capital; the private charity of Fiona McKean and husband Tobi Lutke, CEO of Shopify Inc .; and an unidentified U.S. federal pension fund.

That adds up to well over $ 300 million in total General Fusion has raised to date, including government support in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, said Chief Executive Officer Christofer Mowry.

The 19-year-old company has a lot more to do before it can prove that its technology, which it has successfully tested, works on a large scale or can work commercially – but if it does, it could have a significant impact. “Fusion should be the vaccine against climate change,” said Mowry.

While the process of nuclear fission creates energy by splitting the nucleus of an atom, the fusion process does the same thing by combining them.

General Fusion has developed a process by which ultra-heated hydrogen atoms are fused into helium, as happens in the sun. It injects hydrogen fuel into a molten lead-lithium ball; Pressure on the ball forces fusion reactions in the fuel, releasing heat into the liquid metal, which can be converted into electricity. The process is carbon free. its main input is water and its reactor would not be threatened by a meltdown.

Overcoming long-standing skepticism about fusion energy, General Fusion has shown its technology to work, Mr. Mowry said. It is now in the middle of a project to develop and build a demonstration plant to prove that it can deliver what it promises on a large scale. General Fusion will break ground next summer at the UK Atomic Energy Agency’s Culham Center for Fusion Energy near Oxford. The process is expected to take another three to four years.

General Fusion will need to raise additional funds to complete the work and get the facility up and running, which is currently estimated to cost approximately $ 400 million, and to work with utility companies to cultivate early adopters.

Mr. Mowry said that “early money is the most expensive to come by”. “What I have to do is keep the process going, and as we move forward and hit milestones, the value of the company increases and the incremental funding is cheaper.” The next stage of fundraising begins next year , he added.

General Fusion competes with other heavily funded fusion startups including Commonwealth Fusion Systems, TAE Technologies, Helion Energy, all of which are based in the US, and Tokomak Energy, which is based in the UK.

“If everything goes according to plan, depending on the project, you will have a proof of concept for the merger in the next three to eight years – a test reactor that actually works,” said Arthur Hyde, portfolio manager at Dallas-based investor Segra. “We wanted to not just prove that fusion technology was possible, we wanted to find a commercial-scale powerhouse that utility companies and world governments that really need to tackle their energy transition could buy.” In that regard, “we believe General Fusion will outperform its competitors is ahead. “

When asked why the test facility will be in the UK, Mowry said his company “jeopardized” its chances of success by locating one of the world’s leading operational fusion research centers. “They have 1,000 of the world’s leading fusion engineers and scientists there and a huge supply chain,” he said. “You don’t find talent like that on the streets” in Canada.

If the facility manages to produce carbon-free fusion energy on a large scale, Mowry hopes the technology can be commercialized by the end of the decade, starting with the construction of pilot plants that would inject electricity into power grids for the first time. General Fusion will not build these plants, but will license its technology and supply its own core components to design engineers such as strategic partner Hatch, an engineering company based in Mississauga. The assets, which at current prices would cost around $ 800 to $ 1 billion at current prices, would then be operated by power generation companies, Mowry said.

Your time is precious. Have the Top Business Headlines newsletter conveniently delivered to your mailbox in the morning or in the evening. Register today.