Fusion News, June 10, 2026

[00:00] Hello again everyone and welcome back to the Fusion Industry Association. My name's Jasmine Mund, I'm a mechanical design engineer with a key interest in the fusion industry. Today is Wednesday the 10th of June and this is our Fusion News Update for the week.

[00:15] Let's dive right into our top stories. 1. Record funding for European fusion. 2. The world's largest privately owned laser just turned on. 3. Thayer Energy raises $100 million in new funding to advance fusion technology.

[00:31] 4. Gates-backed Commonwealth Fusion says it's tech-validated to make power. 5. Helion hits $15.5 billion valuation with $465 million in new cash as it aims to commercialise fusion this decade.

[00:46] And make sure you say it till the end, because as usual, I have a lot of interesting bonus stories that you definitely don't want to miss. 1. Record funding for European fusion. Our first story this week from Nuclear Engineering International is a huge one for the European fusion ecosystem.

[01:03] Germany-based FIA member Fotos Energy has announced a $240 million Series A funding round, the largest fully secured Series A investment ever raised by a fusion company in Europe.

[01:15] The capital will support development of a fusion project at a decommissioned German MPP site owned by utility RWE in Sibley. What's particularly significant about this announcement isn't just the amount of the money involved.

[01:29] It represents growing confidence from investors that fusion is transitioning from a purely scientific challenge into a potential commercial energy technology. Europe has historically lagged behind the United States in private fusion investments,

[01:43] despite its strong scientific base. This funding round helps close that gap and demonstrates that investors are willing to place substantial bets on European fusion companies.

[01:55] The timing is also interesting. Across Europe, policymakers are discussing larger fusion budgets and new public-private partnerships. At the same time, private investment continues to accelerate as companies move from laboratory-scale experiments

[02:09] towards pilot plant design. For the broader industry, this funding round sends a powerful signal. Investors increasingly see fusion not as a distant scientific dream,

[02:21] but as an opportunity with the potential to reshape the global energy landscape. Two, the world's largest privately owned laser just turned on. Staying with laser fusion, another success was announced this week.

[02:34] An article from TechCrunch reports on FAA member Exema Energy officially switching on what it says is the largest privately owned razor in the world known as the Phoenix Laser System According to the company the machine represents a critical step towards demonstrating a commercially

[02:51] viable inertial fusion energy system. The Phoenix Laser isn't designed simply as a V-SERG tool. Instead, it's intended as an engineering platform for developing the hardware and operational

[03:04] experience required for future power plants. The system relies on eczema amplification technology, similar to the lasers used in semiconductor manufacturing, but operating at a much greater scale.

[03:17] According to eczema, its krypton fluoride laser can deliver more than 1 kJ of energy at full output. Although this may make it the most powerful privately owned laser currently in operation, it is believed that a commercial power plant could require more than 12 megajoules.

[03:33] What makes this story especially noteworthy is the scale of private investment required to build a facility like this. Historically, only national laboratories could afford laser systems of this size.

[03:48] The fact that a private company has now built and activated one demonstrates how much the fusion sector has evolved over the past decade. 3. Bayer Energy raises $100 million in new funding to advance fusion technology.

[04:01] Next up, from PowerMind, we have another major funding milestone. This time for one of the United States' emerging fusion companies. FIA member Thayer Energy has announced a new $100 million Series B funding round

[04:15] to support development of its fusion technology and accelerate progress towards a pilot power plant. The company has attracted attention for its approach to simplifying fusion plant engineering.

[04:27] Rather than focusing solely on achieving extreme plasma performance, Thayer has consistently emphasised the importance of designing systems that can eventually be manufactured, operated and maintained at commercial scale.

[04:40] We built Thayer Energy to take Fusion out of the lab and onto the grid. Our architecture is simpler to manufacture, faster to construct and more tolerant of real-world conditions compared to all other approaches, said Bertin, the company's co-founder and CEO.

[04:56] This latest funding will support continued technology development, expansion of engineering teams and advancement of the company's pilot plan. It follows growing engagement between private fusion companies and the US Department of Energy,

[05:12] which has increasingly embraced partnerships with industry through programs designed to accelerate commercialisation What is encouraging for the industry is that investors continue to support companies at increasingly large scales Over the last few years billion valuations and nine funding rounds have become far more common across the fusion sector

[05:35] For Thayer Energy, this funding round provides the resources needed to continue turning promising ideas into engineering reality. 4. Gates-backed Commonwealth Fusion says it's tech-validated to make power.

[05:48] Our full story this week comes from Bloomberg and Reuters. FAO member Commonwealth Fusion Systems, the Massachusetts-based company backed by investors, including Bill Gates Breakthrough Energy Ventures,

[06:00] has announced that a series of newly published peer-reviewed papers validate the scientific foundation underlying its approach to commercial fusion energy. The company says five papers published in the Journal of Plasma Physics support key aspects of the design for its planned arc power plant, including strategies for managing plasma disruptions, amongst other topics.

[06:23] According to Commonwealth, the results strengthen confidence that its plant designs can achieve the conditions required for practical electricity generation. This means that the science foundation of the plant is solid, and there's global agreement about this.

[06:37] The papers provide confidence that ARC will be able to continuously deliver 400 megawatts of clean, firm, baseload net energy electricity to the grid, stated Brandon Sorbon, the co-founder and chief science officer of CFF.

[06:53] This is particularly important because fusion companies are increasingly being judged not only on engineering progress, but also on the scientific evidence supporting their design. Independent peer review remains one of the strongest ways to validate performance claims within the scientific community.

[07:10] Five, Helion hit $15.5 billion valuation with $465 million in new cash as it aims to commercialise fusion this decade. Our final story is another major funding announcement, this time from Washington-based fusion company, FIA member Helion Energy.

[07:28] Helion has raised $465 million in a Series G funding round, increasing the company's valuation to $15.5 billion and bringing its total funding to approximately $1.5 billion.

[07:42] The round was led by Thrive Capital and included participation from a number of new and existing investors. The investment represents one of the largest private funding rounds in the history of the

[07:54] fusion industry, and highlights continued investor confidence in Helion's approach to commercialisation The company says the new funding will help expand manufacturing capacity accelerate commercialisation efforts and support deployment of future power plants

[08:09] With this agile test bed, we'll be able to test new ideas with much less energy and far fewer resource requirements, meaning we can iterate faster than we can on full-scale machines such as Polaris, says Michael Hewer, Heweron's Senior Director of Radiation Safety and Nuclear Science.

[08:25] Helium's Polaris prototype has already achieved temperatures exceeding 150 million degrees Celsius, using fusion fuel, and construction is underway on its first planned commercial facility,

[08:38] known as Orion, in Washington state. Whether Helium ultimately meets its aggressive timelines remains to be seen, but the scale of this funding round demonstrates that investors continue to believe that fusion is moving closer to commercial reality.

[08:52] And now, as promised, here are the bonuses. First up, we have a bonus in the form of a YouTube video from Times Business, titled Is Nuclear Fusion Close to Grid Reality or Decades of Hype?

[09:06] The video is an interview with Warwick Matthews, CEO of FIA member Tokamak Energy, and Dr Melanie Windridge, founder of Fusion Energy Insights. Secondly, I have a bonus about FIA member Pacific Fusion,

[09:20] revealing new details about their latest demonstration system, which reportedly delivered 440 gigawatts of power in an 80 nanoseconds burst. Check out the article from TechCrunch to see images of their latest Pulsar Module prototypes.

[09:36] Next up is a bonus about researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, observing and characterising the initial stages of hydrogen-uranium corrosion for the first time. Then we have a bonus about ITER, officially beginning operations at its new magnet-cold test facility,

[09:53] a key piece of infrastructure that will verify the performance of some of the most powerful superconducting magnets ever built for fusion. And finally, I have a fun bonus about a newly unveiled concept for a floating fusion device-powered vessel involving FAA member NT-TAL

[10:10] and exploring how fusion energy could one day be used beyond electricity generation. And that's it for today. I really hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you did, don't forget to drop a like, comment or subscribe.

[10:24] If you'd like to know more about any of the stories or bonuses mentioned today, as always, the links will be in the description below. And you can follow our Fusion News Extra podcast for a more in-depth look into the topic of fusion energy.

[10:37] Thank you for watching, and I'll see you next time.