“Helion Energy has broken ground on the site of a planned fusion power plant, part of an optimistic initiative to supply a Microsoft data center with electricity by 2028,” reports The Doomslayer.
Politico reports:
In another sign of fusion energy development’s quickening pace, Helion Energy, a startup with $1 billion in private funding, announced Wednesday it has commenced construction of its first planned power production reactor.
The Washington state-based company said the site work keeps it on track to deliver electricity within three years to Microsoft under a 2023 purchase agreement, and “one step closer” to realizing the vision behind its unique fusion energy technology, said David Kirtley, Helion co-founder and CEO, in a statement.
Microsoft Chief Sustainability Officer Melanie Nakagawa, noting that “the path to commercial fusion is still unfolding,” said the company was proud to support Helion’s pioneering development.
Helion is one of three developers to amass $1 billion in investments, according to the 2025 annual report by the Fusion Industry Association. The company is aiming to build the first U.S. power plant to harness fusion energy for the grid at a site in Malaga, Washington, which is roughly halfway between Seattle and Spokane.
Helion hasn’t disclosed the full cost of the project and still needs to obtain permits from Washington state, according to the company. The plant is expected to produce at least 50 megawatts of power.
MIT scientists also plan to build a fusion power plant in Virginia. They hope to sell the energy produced to Virginia’s largest utility, Dominion Energy.
In other news, Appalachian Power, Virginia’s second-largest electric utility, plans “to bring small modular reactors (SMRs) to Virginia,” reports Daily Energy Insider. Small modular reactors (SMRs) are a new generation of nuclear reactors that are about a tenth to a fourth the size of a traditional nuclear plant. “They consist of factory-built modules that can be assembled in different configurations and transported to the installation site. SMRs use passive systems and inherent safety features, such as low power and operating pressure. SMRs are designed to be more affordable than traditional nuclear plants. SMRs can be sited in locations where larger nuclear plants are not feasible.”
“Nuclear power is the safest form of energy we have, if you consider deaths per megawatt of energy produced,” notes Yale University’s Steven Novella. “Wind turbines, surprisingly, kill more people than nuclear plants,” notes an environmentalist. And “solar panels require 17 times more materials in the form of cement, glass, concrete, and steel than do nuclear plants, and create over 200 times more waste,” such as “dust from toxic heavy metals including lead, cadmium, and chromium.”
Nuclear plants emit no air pollution, only harmless steam. Unlike wind farms, nuclear power plants don’t kill birds. The biggest utility that generates wind power pleaded guilty to federal crimes for killing 150 eagles.
Many years ago, France and Sweden replaced most of their fossil-fueled electricity with nuclear power, and as a result, ended up emitting less than a tenth of the world average of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour.
