Posted on 05/28/2025 6:00:48 AM PDT by Red Badger
Infinity Two utilizes stellarator fusion technology, proven for stable, continuous, large-scale operation by experiments such as the W7-X machine.
Infinity Two's design is uniquely based on the world's sole implementable, peer-reviewed fusion power plant physics. - Type One Energy
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Type One Energy, a US-based firm, has successfully completed the first formal design review for its “Infinity Two” stellarator fusion reactor power plant.
The advanced design, targeting 350 megawatts (MW) of electricity for the grid by the mid-2030s – enough to power tens of thousands of homes – is now one step closer to realization, particularly in support of a potential project with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).
The progress on the Infinity Two fusion reactor design, coupled with the collaboration with TVA, is already attracting attention from the global energy industry.
“Several prominent energy utilities and industrial companies have expressed an interest in Infinity Two and participation in Type One Energy’s deployment of its first-generation fusion power plant technology,” said the firm in a press release.
Rigorous review of the fusion reactor design
This achievement marks the first time a fusion power plant design aiming for such a substantial output has passed an independent technical review. This signals a critical turning point in the race for commercial fusion energy.
The Infinity Two concept is uniquely based on the world’s only implementable, peer-reviewed physics basis for a fusion power plant, recently published in the Journal of Plasma Physics.
The rigorous design review board was chaired by Type One Energy’s Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Thomas Sunn Pedersen, and included prominent external experts such as Dr. George H. “Hutch” Neilson from the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Dr. Paolo Ferroni from Westinghouse Electric Company.
Dr. Neilson lauded the project, stating, “It is the first serious fusion power plant design that I’ve seen. The work they’ve done to date provides a sound foundation for continued design development of what could be the first system to produce net electricity from fusion.”
The successful review confirms that Infinity Two’s technology, architecture, performance, and reliability requirements align with the expectations of TVA and the broader global energy market for a first-of-a-kind commercial fusion power plant.
Efficient design for commercial viability
The Infinity Two architecture is grounded in stellarator fusion technology, which has uniquely demonstrated stable, continuous steady-state operation at a large scale in experiments like the W7-X machine.
“I think it is important that the Type One Energy team is taking a comprehensive plant-level approach to develop their technology which includes a description of all necessary systems, not just the plasma core,” explained Dr. Ferroni.
Type One Energy’s proprietary design aims for a compelling two-year power plant operating cycle, separated by 30-day planned maintenance outages, utilizing existing materials and enabling technologies.
The company has also leveraged a partner-rich commercialization program, with firms like Atkins-Realis assisting in designing systems and structures beyond Type One Energy’s core stellarator focus.
“Our ability to efficiently architect the initial Infinity Two design in an efficient, partner rich manner reaffirms our commitment to pursuing the lowest risk, shortest schedule, path to a commercially viable fusion power plant,” said Christofer Mowry, Chief Executive Officer for Type One Energy.
“The energy industry needs more reliable, clean, power generation technology that can meet the rapidly increasing demand for electricity and we are delivering a commercially compelling solution.”
Of course all of that fusion business depends on the physics behind it being correct, and that there are no surprises, since we as nuclear physicists “know everything, and its just a matter of filling in the details”, so said the scientific community in the mid-1950s.
Don’t hold your breath.
since we as nuclear physicists “know everything, and its just a matter of filling in the details”, so said the scientific community in the mid-1950s.
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I would totally agree if today’s technology were no better than 1950’s technology.
But its not.
What’s more the technology is rapidly improving and the rate of improvement is increasing.
So you might even be right if the rate of improvement were constant. But again its not.
The rate of improvement is accelerating.
That’s what the physicist working on these things report.
so we wait. we’ll see. It will come sooner or later.
They said the same things about their tech in the 1950s. After all they had Univac, Colossus, ENIAC, and other giant computers!
So you’d argue that moore’s law is meaningless?
Or that faster computer/networks/AI/ does not compress time frames for action reaction?
You’d argue that not only is the rate of technological and scientific innovation not improving, it is not accelerating?
You think that all that is not happening on the battlefield? Not only is it not happening on the battlefield—its not happening anywhere else?
Wake me when anyone can prove they know everything about physics especially theoretical high energy physics.
agree. Theoretical high-energy physics has been asleep since the 1970s.
Better physics will be needed to reach the stars, but not to build a fusion reactor that generates electricity.
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