By some estimates, nuclear fusion will be grid-connected in a decade, and the world is paying attention to UW-Madison’s fusion talent.
At the FusionX:GreatLakes Roadshow in Chicago on July 21, international fusion players, including UW-Madison spinoffs SHINE Technologies and Realta Fusion, spoke about their business models, technological strategies and the future of fusion.
The conference was hosted by FusionX, an international organization dedicated to advancing fusion technology, in collaboration with fusion-focused Midwest nonprofit 5 Lakes Institute.
Fusion: Clean, green and (theoretically) limitless
Fusion refers to the ‘fusing’ of two atoms whose nuclei combine, releasing a new atom and neutron.
In order to achieve a nuclear fusion reaction that produces more energy than it consumes, two hydrogen-based atoms must be placed together in a superheated, ionized gas called plasma. Nuclear fusion requires a constant stream of energy and heat to keep the plasma hot enough to overcome the forces keeping atoms together, which makes the reaction expensive to achieve.
Nevertheless, fusion has the potential for enormous energy output, greater than oil and gas.
Fusion, unlike fossil fuels, doesn’t have a natural carbon output. Additionally, there is very little radioactive waste material, unlike fission reactors which use uranium or other radioactive material. Essentially, this is a limitless, waste free powerhouse — or at least, it has the potential to be.
Though companies like Lowercarbon Capital, a California-based venture capital firm aiming to “unf**k the planet,” advertise the carbon-emissions benefits of fusion on their website, the conversation on climate change at FusionX was notably muted. Representatives instead discussed the technological advantages of fusion energy for pushing data centers forward and meeting general energy demand.
Christian Newton, chief of staff for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DoE) Office of Science, praised nuclear fusion at the conference for its potential to provide low-cost energy. But Newton also said the DoE and current administration believes “there is no such thing as clean and dirty energy” and that fusion would not replace traditional energy sources like oil and gas.
As of 2024, the federal government has increased funding for nuclear fusion research to $790 million for the DoE. Inertial Confinement Fusion research received another $690 million from the National Nuclear Security Administration. The combined funds puts the U.S government at $1.48 billion for fusion development.
‘Take that, MIT’: How UW-Madison influences the fusion world
UW-Madison is a fusion powerhouse, the only university in the world with three active fusion spinoff companies: Type One Energy, Realta Fusion and SHINE Technologies. The university has 28 faculty whose primary focus is fusion and has produced 580 PhD students specializing in nuclear fusion, according to Greg Keenan, a director at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF).
“Take that, MIT,” Keenan said at the event. “UW doesn't blow our own trumpet enough. It's a problem overall in the Midwest.”
Realta, SHINE and Type One Energy specialize in magnetic confinement fusion devices, one of two primary strategies for pressurizing plasma. UW-Madison PhD graduates hold positions in every nuclear fusion company focusing on magnetic confinement, according to 5 Lakes Institute Director Kathleen Gallagher.
Keenan said the WARF Ventures fund provides around $100 million dollars a year in “grants and services that support research,” including fusion infrastructure and commercialization.
The “density” of fusion research and development at UW-Madison spurs both collaboration and competition between startups, Kieran Furlong, CEO of UW-Madison spinoff Realta Fusion, told The Cardinal.
“We have all the ingredients here, and we should really think about how to support that and how to nurture companies,” Furlong said.
Realta Fusion has already demonstrated success containing plasma in a smaller-scale experiment, partnering with the Wisconsin HTS Axisymmetric Mirror (WHAM) reactor at UW-Madison. Most magnetic confinement devices are tokamaks — donut-shaped — or stellarators — quasi-donut-shaped — to contain plasma, but Realta Fusion uses a “magnetic mirror” concept resembling a cylinder.
SHINE Technologies, another UW-Madison spinoff featured in FusionX, currently uses the neutron output of a fusion reaction, rather than its heat energy, for “industrial component inspection” and production of a medical isotope called lutetium-177, used to treat cancer.
Outside of the commercial world, UW-Madison researchers like Steffi Diem, an assistant professor in the nuclear engineering and engineering physics department, advance fusion technology within a university setting.
Diem, who was also present at the event, operates the Pegasus-III experiment, a small-scale tokamak used to “prove that [fusion] can actually work, and then [look] at how we can scale it up to deploy another machine,” she told the Cardinal. Her research group also studies the “challenges to commercialization” of fusion energy.
In addition to a talented pool of students and professors, UW-Madison also has the advantage of placement within a fusion-positive state legislature, which declared its commitment to “fusion energy and nuclear power” in a joint resolution this session.
The legislature formally made nuclear energy a state priority “second only to energy efficiency and conservation” in meeting state energy demands, and the bipartisan Senate Bill 124, signed into law in early July, creates a board to “organize, promote and host a Wisconsin nuclear power summit” hosted in Madison.
Fusion is estimated to reach the grid by the mid-2030s. What are start-ups doing until then?
One question asked at the event was: When can we expect fusion power to be sold on the grid?
Realistically, it won’t be until the 2030s, several speakers predicted. It will take even longer for fusion energy to reach prices around 5 cents a kilowatt-hour — comparable to other fuel costs, according to Greg Piefer, founder and CEO of SHINE Technologies.
So how do startups make money? Well, SHINE and Realta have capitalized on unique uses of nuclear fusion science as more than just an energy source.
SHINE, based in Janesville, has put their business model into four steps: neutron testing, producing medical isotopes, recycling nuclear waste and generating fusion energy.
Piefer told the Cardinal SHINE’s business model is the company’s “biggest innovation,” explaining how SHINE could “scale” their technology to make money while reaching an ultimate goal of making nuclear power a viable grid option.
Scaling their business model allows SHINE and their investors to gain a return until fusion is powerful enough to be grid reliable.
Other UW-Madison startups, instead of expanding into other markets, are focusing on testing smaller-scale versions of the grid-connected fusion energy systems they eventually hope to offer. Realta aims to publish plans for a pilot fusion device by 2026, and Type One Energy designed and received permission to build a pilot plant in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Piefer told the Cardinal that UW-Madison students interested in fusion should focus on honing a specific talent, and reach out to companies directly.
“There's actually three fusion companies in the area now too, and we all talk to each other, so getting involved with one of us is like getting involved with all of us,” Piefer said.
