General Fusion has successfully formed a magnetized plasma inside its Lawson Machine 26 (LM26), marking a significant step in the advancement of its Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) technology.
The Burnaby-based company now aims to compress these plasmas with a lithium liner to generate fusion, tracking toward game-changing technical milestones that could pave the way for zero-carbon fusion energy within the next decade.
LM26, designed and built within 16 months, represents over two decades of technological progress. The machine is targeting key benchmarks, including achieving temperatures of 10 million and 100 million degrees Celsius, with the ultimate goal of reaching scientific breakeven in a commercially viable manner.
“We’ve built 24 plasma injectors, created over 200,000 plasmas, and generated fusion neutrons from plasma compressions – de-risking LM26 and preparing us for this new chapter at General Fusion,” said Dr. Michel Laberge, Founder and Chief Science Officer. “We’re ready to make some fusion happen in LM26!”
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CEO Greg Twinney emphasized the company’s focus on practicality. “Unlike other approaches, MTF is designed from the ground up to produce practical power,” he said. “Our path to delivering clean fusion energy to homes and businesses following LM26 is more straightforward and streamlined than other technologies.”
General Fusion’s progress has been bolstered by $69 million in support from the Canadian government’s Strategic Innovation Fund since 2019, helping attract private capital and contributing to the company’s total funding of $440 million.
The company has injected approximately $141 million into British Columbia’s economy since 2019 and returned $3 in global private investment for every public dollar received.
With LM26 now forming plasmas daily, General Fusion is poised for its next step—bringing fusion energy closer to reality.
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