Fusion Power's Unsung Heroes: Building the Supporting Cast

In the fusion power world, the reactors get all the attention. But without a lot of other equipment, a fusion reactor can't run for long. The good news is that there are plenty of startups happy to let someone else handle the rest.

Kyoto Fusioneering: The Fusion Power Supplier

Among the dozens of companies in the emerging fusion power supply chain, few specialists are bigger than Kyoto Fusioneering. The Japan-based company has raised $121 million in committed capital and has landed grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and the state of Tennessee to build a prototype fuel breeding device at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Alongside the announcement, Kyoto Fusioneering exclusively told TechCrunch that it's moving its U.S. headquarters to Oak Ridge.

The startup has emerged as a key player in the fusion power industry. Over half of fusion startups have said they plan to work with external suppliers like Kyoto Fusioneering on fuel cycle technologies, according to a recent Fusion Industry Association survey.

Unity-3: The Breeding Blanket Test Bed

Kyoto Fusioneering's forthcoming device, called Unity-3, is being developed with ORNL and will test a fuel cycle technology known as a breeding blanket. Breeding blankets harvest energy from the fusion reactor while also generating fresh fusion fuel. One breeding blanket design will use liquid lithium, which will absorb both heat and neutrons. As the lithium atoms in the blanket are bombarded with neutrons, they split into helium and tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that's an important fuel for many reactor designs. The tritium is then separated from the blanket and sent to the reactor, while heat is extracted to generate power.

All of this requires heat-resistant materials, bespoke pumps, and other specialized equipment, and it's just one slice of a fusion power plant that needs to be developed before it can connect to the grid. Kyoto Fusioneering is also developing systems to heat fusion fuel into a plasma, recycle unburned fuel from the exhaust, and harvest heat to generate electricity.

Collaboration and Validation

Unity-3 will test the performance of not just liquid lithium, but a range of other breeding blanket materials. The device will help researchers and startups validate the data they've been generating, so far mostly through computer models. Other fusion startups, including Realta Fusion, Thea Energy, Type One Energy, and Xcimer Energy, will use data from the Unity-3 experiments to design their reactors. It's a range of startups — and approaches to fusion power — that should help position Kyoto Fusioneering as a go-to supplier when fusion power is ready for the grid.