Commonwealth Fusion Systems
also known as CFS
The world's largest and leading commercial fusion energy company
163 in this dataset
10 developers pursuing it
103 organisations in US
What these terms mean
Every classification on this page, defined. These are controlled-vocabulary terms, so the same word means the same thing on every profile.
- Fusion developer
- Develops a fusion device or power plant concept. Carries no implication that the device exists or works.
- Fusion
- Organizations pursuing energy from nuclear fusion, and their dedicated supply chain.
- Tokamak › › Tokamak
- Doughnut-shaped magnetic confinement using a strong toroidal field plus a current driven through the plasma itself. The most-studied configuration, and the one ITER uses.
- Deuterium–tritium
- Lowest ignition threshold; 80% of energy in 14.1 MeV neutrons. The reference fuel for every near-term net-gain claim.
Funding
across 1 round
award ceilings, listings and offtakes carry no cash figure
| Date | Instrument | Amount | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-05 | Milestone-based award | unpriced | DOE Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program |
| 2021-12 | Equity roundSeries B | $1.80B | Series B financing. |
In Commonwealth Fusion Systems’s own words
Quoted from the organisation’s own site as we archived it. Their description of themselves, not ours, and not a claim this site has checked.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems is collaborating with MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center to build SPARC, the world’s first fusion device that produces plasmas which generate more energy than they consume, becoming the first net-energy fusion machine. SPARC will pave the way to safe, carbon-free, limitless fusion power. This compact high-field tokamak will be built with HTS magnets, allowing for a smaller device than previous magnet technology. SPARC is an important step to accelerate the development of commercial fusion energy.
Following the SPARC demonstration, CFS will construct ARC, the world's first fusion power plant capable of producing net electricity. ARC will provide hundreds of megawatts of grid connected electricity, demonstrating for the first time our ability to turn the promise of fusion into clean power for our homes, businesses, and communities. It will be the first example on the path to economically competitive, mass-produced fusion power plants that will provide carbon-free, safe, secure, limitless power for the world.
A new high temperature superconductor (HTS) recently reached industrial maturity: Rare Earth Barium Copper Oxide (REBCO). CFS is using HTS to manufacture the strongest fusion magnets of their kind that will enable our commercially-relevant fusion energy machine, SPARC. CFS will next scale magnet production and deliver its first fusion power plant in the next decade.
Alcator C-Mod is a compact, high-magnetic field tokamak at MIT that has provided much of the research basis for SPARC. As a result of DOE funded research on Alcator C-Mod the team developed the science that retired key risk in the path toward commercial fusion. The compact configuration enabled our team to rapidly incorporate innovations and provide time sensitive answers to questions surrounding fusion science and technology. In 2016, C-Mod broke its own record for plasma pressure in a magnetically confined device, an important measurement for fusion.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems has grown from a foundation of rigorous fusion science into a company that’ll unlock humanity’s boundless potential.
The company was born from the realization that new magnet technology brings an energy revolution into humanity’s grasp. The key innovation: high-temperature superconductors that can drive the powerful magnets that run our fusion machines.
We’ve raised $4 billion in capital — more than any other fusion energy company — and attracted top talent to design and build commercial fusion power plants. And we’re working with policymakers and suppliers to make fusion energy available globally.
As we push toward, we’ll keep meeting milestones , sharing our progress , and encouraging others to do the same .
Where Commonwealth Fusion Systems sits
Composed from records in this dataset, not from outside research. Every figure below is counted from what the site holds, so it moves when the data does.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems is one of 10 organisations in this dataset pursuing tokamak.
It is one of 103 we hold in US.
It operates 1 device in this dataset, none of which carries recorded performance figures.
Disclosed equity funding totals $1.8bn across 1 round, which ranks 1 of 14 among organisations here with a disclosed figure.
It also holds 1 award or agreement carrying no cash figure, which are deliberately not added to that total.
Related organisations
Others pursuing the same approach, then others in the same country.
Measured results
Results recorded on this operator’s devices. Design parameters — bore, field, dimensions — are excluded: a machine’s size is not something it achieved. 3 design parameters are held on the device pages.
| Device | Metric | Value | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPARC | Fusion triple product (nTτ_E) | 6.2 × 10²¹ m⁻³·keV·s | planned | Continuing progress toward fusion energy breakeven and gain as measured against the Lawson criteria |
| SPARC | Ion temperature | 20 keV | planned | Continuing progress toward fusion energy breakeven and gain as measured against the Lawson criteria |
| SPARC | Plasma density | 4 × 10²⁰ m⁻³ | planned | Continuing progress toward fusion energy breakeven and gain as measured against the Lawson criteria |
| SPARC | Energy confinement time (τ_E) | 0.77 s | planned | Continuing progress toward fusion energy breakeven and gain as measured against the Lawson criteria |
| SPARC | Plasma gain (Q_plasma)per External heating power coupled into the plasma | 2 | planned | SPARC: Proving commercial fusion energy is possible | Commonwealth Fusion Systems |
| SPARC | Plasma current | 8.7 MA | planned | World Survey of Fusion Devices 2022 |
Devices operated 1
Pursuing the same technology
Others in this dataset working on Tokamak.
Sources
- Home | Commonwealth Fusion Systems operator
A source marked operator is the subject’s own publication. That is legitimate, and it is not independent confirmation. Methodology.