Startup Raises $1.8 Billion in Bid to Generate Fusion Nuclear Energy

A technician checks a plasma heating system inside a chamber of a nuclear reactor in this file photo. Typical fusion experiments involve a tokamak reactor, but the National Ignition Facility's method of using powerful lasers has successfully produced clean nuclear energy. Boris Horvat/AFP/Getty Images

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) has raised more than $1.8 billion, the largest private investment in the nuclear fusion industry as more investors pour money into energy projects that claim limitless energy with no or minimal wastage.

Founded in 2017, CFS is based out of Cambridge, MA, and plans to deploy the capital to “construct, commission, and operate SPARC, the world’s first commercially relevant net energy fusion machine,” according to a company press release, and thereby, commercialize fusion energy. Besides SPARC, CFS will begin working on a nuclear fusion power plant using the funds.