Canadian Groups Invest Millions to Support Commercial Fusion Energy
A leading nuclear science and technology group in Canada, along with the investment arm of one of the country’s top banks, said they together would invest about CA$20 million ($14.6 million) to support development of commercial fusion energy.
Canadian Nuclear Laboratories and BDC Capital, part of the Business Development Bank of Canada, on August 8 said the money would go to General Fusion, a Canadian company that at present is advancing its Lawson Machine 26 (LM26) fusion energy demonstration program in Richmond, British Columbia. The companies said the financing will allow General Fusion to continue work on its Magnetized Target Fusion, or MTF, technology. General Fusion has said its goal is to provide fusion energy to the power grid at some point in the 2030s.
General Fusion has said the LM26 project “is designed to achieve two transformational milestones for fusion energy, temperatures of over 100 million degrees Celsius (10 keV) and scientific breakeven equivalent, using the company’s uniquely practical MTF technology.”
“Canada is a global leader in nuclear energy and this investment in General Fusion reinforces our status as a powerful innovator in nuclear science and technology,” said Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s minister of Energy and Natural Resources, in a statement. “Backed by almost 80 years of experience and contributions, Canada’s nuclear industry is poised to seize the global economic opportunities before us. This investment aligns with the Government of Canada’s economic plan to foster energy innovation, increase productivity, and ensure Canada continues to lead in the economy of the future.”
CNL is Lead Investor
CNL as the lead investor in the financing will be represented on General Fusion’s board of directors by Doug McIntyre, vice president, Legal and Insurance. BDC has been a major investor in General Fusion since 2019. The group is represented on General Fusion’s board by Zoltan Tompa, senior partner at BDC Capital’s Climate Tech Fund.
“This investment in General Fusion will advance the LM26 program to demonstrate fusion conditions and scientific energy breakeven, which in turn will accelerate and derisk the company’s pathway to commercial fusion energy,” said Tompa. “As a long-term investor in General Fusion, we’re pleased to partner with CNL, a globally preeminent nuclear science laboratory and a strategically important addition to General Fusion’s global investor base.”
The financing announced last week also includes investment from Hatch, a Canada-headquartered consultancy specializing in the mining, energy, and infrastructure sectors, along with other company shareholders. General Fusion said this financing round brings the total public and private investment into General Fusion’s LM26 program to more than CA$71 million ($51.9 million) since its launch last year.
The announcement comes on the heels of Fusion Day 2024, a forum hosted by CNL and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, better known as AECL. The event brought Canadian and international leaders to Ottawa, the Canadian capital, in June to discuss the deployment of fusion energy in the country. CNL during the event released its new Fusion Energy for Canada report, which the group said “outlines the significant future opportunity for Canadian technology, and the advantages of being an early mover in the development of this sector.”
“CNL and General Fusion share the same vision—to unlock fusion’s tremendous potential as a transformative, clean energy future in Canada in order to fight climate change and maintain our energy security,” said Jack Craig, president and CEO for CNL. “We are proud to invest in such an innovative Canadian company, applying our unique capabilities and expertise within Canada’s national nuclear laboratory to help bring their technology to life, and secure these environmental and economic benefits to Canada.”
Development of Fusion Supports Economy
CNL in a news release said its CNL report noted that development of fusion energy “can drive new jobs, economic growth, intellectual property, and innovation in Canada. Building and operating domestic fusion power plants and exporting products and services for international experiments and plants, could create over 63,000 Canadian jobs and establish valuable supply chains by 2050. Overall, it is estimated that fusion could offer CA$520 billion ($380 billion) in cumulative economic benefits by 2100, and as a clean source of heat and electrical energy, help to reduce cumulative emissions by up to 192 Mt CO2-eq by 2050.”
CNL said its investment is being supported through the New Nuclear and Emerging Technologies (N2ET) program, which is part of the work underway at Canada’s national nuclear laboratories to advance fusion and advanced energy technology research and commercialization in the country. CNL and General Fusion already work together on a series of joint projects conducted as part of CNL’s Canadian Nuclear Research Initiative (CNRI) program, which supports design of General Fusion’s power plant. That work also includes a CNL analysis of tritium breeding technologies and tritium management facilities; tritium is a primary component of fusion fuel.
Teams from General Fusion and CNL have collaborated on research related to the fusion machine, balance of plant, and power conversion system for General Fusion’s MTF machine design.
Greg Twinney, General Fusion’s CEO, said “This new investment from CNL and BDC represents a major vote of confidence in General Fusion and strengthens Canada’s position to lead in the deployment of commercial fusion power—a technology that will play a transformational role in the future of clean energy. Through this financing, General Fusion continues to not only advance our LM26 program but build the strategic partnerships we need to make this clean, baseload energy source a reality.”
Twinney continued: “With long-standing and continued support from BDC, and a new opportunity to leverage the capabilities of CNL and AECL through the N2NET program, this investment is an exciting and momentous step forward for fusion energy development in Canada. We’re proud to lead the way with a uniquely practical approach to clean fusion power—Magnetized Target Fusion.”
—Darrell Proctor is senior editor for POWER (@POWERmagazine).