Key legal considerations for fusion energy projects

I recently spoke with a U.S. News & World Report for their new piece on how to invest in nuclear fusion stocks. It was a pleasure to share my perspective on the opportunities and challenges in this next wave of clean-energy innovation. Fusion remains a long-term play, but the technology and funding momentum we’re seeing today is unlike anything before. https://lnkd.in/dRv5xqV5

Since 2018, Commonwealth Fusion Systems in Massachusetts has captured a third of global funding to commercialize nuclear fusion. Last Thursday, the company announced that it had raised an additional $863 million, bringing its total funding to $3 billion. A lengthy list of investors showed up for the latest round as the excitement for this long-promised technology continues to rise in the wake of recent engineering breakthroughs, reports Maria Gallucci for Canary Media Inc. More than 50 companies are now working in this space and collectively they garnered $2.64 billion in private and public funding in the past year, which is more than triple the previous year's total. In theory, nuclear fusion will supply clean and nearly limitless power by producing energy the same way the sun does, but without the same risks of meltdown as today’s nuclear fission plants. CFS is scheduled to start supplying power to Google from a plant in Virginia in the early 2030s. #NuclearFusion #CleanEnergy https://lnkd.in/eP9NYyJK

Big tech is backing nuclear fission as it's in search of new sources of power to fuel AI and data centers, as evidenced by Commonwealth Fusion Systems's latest round. https://trib.al/3JkiYWv

"Fusion projects are an exciting frontier, but require contracting parties to be agile, cautious, and cognisant of the risks." A good article from Sophia Harlow, David Nitek and Natasha Anwar of Beale & Co on nuclear fusion proiects and the unique challenges that they present. https://lnkd.in/eHaw-qd7

BLOG: Nuclear fusion is close to becoming a $10 billion industry without generating any electricity—private companies haven’t achieved ignition. Though energy isn’t quite rolling in, cash certainly is. With many in the science and tech community referring to fusion as the “holy grail” of energy production, optimistic investors know now is the time to invest and are eager to plug in and, hopefully, ride the wave. Read more from Tobey Theiding:

Energy demand to power AI projects and data centers continues to grow exponentially. Following recent innovations in nuclear fusion energy capture technologies, markets across the globe are accelerating investments into infrastructure to generate clean, efficient energy with (presumably) minimal environmental impact. What are your thoughts on the growth of nuclear fusion? Is it economically and environmentally sustainable?

Nuclear fusion is one of the great scientific and engineering challenges of our time. Success promises a future where clean, virtually limitless energy can power our world. The UK Atomic Energy Authority is at the forefront of these efforts. Through its Fusion Industry Programme (FIP), it is working to create the infrastructure and technology necessary to realise fusion’s potential as a reliable energy source. In May 2024, the UKAEA awarded £9.6 million to six organisations, including IS-Instruments, to advance projects that develop tools, technologies, and skills required to accelerate the commercialisation of fusion energy. Our role is to develop a gas Raman instrument capable of measuring tritium, which is critical to the commercialisation of fusion energy. Find out more: https://bit.ly/42UvOvV

Excellent news! We need more such initiatives for developing and industrializing efficient and safe processes for recycling spent nuclear fuel. In Europe we have roughly 60000 tonnes, and in the US the article state that there is 94000 tonnes. These stocks are highly valuable as fuel for our zero emission energy future. Europe, US, Japan, South Korea and other potential partner countries need to come together to form legal frameworks for smooth transfer and processing of spent nuclear fuel. This also include the release of separated plutonium for commercial fast reactors. The most efficient and economic processes for recycling must be identified, fine-tuned and scaled to commercial industry scale. #NetZeroNeedsNuclear #CleanEnergy #EnergyTransition #AdvancedNuclear https://lnkd.in/d-sR-ezQ

Fusion promises near-limitless clean energy, but unlike fission, it brings a very different set of legal and regulatory challenges.    In this article, David N., Sophia Harlow and Natasha Anwar explore how to build adaptive, future-proof contracts to help you succeed in the nuclear sector. https://lnkd.in/e2BHDpC6 #Nuclear #FusionProjects

Commonwealth Fusion Systems just raised $863 million in additional funding as the company works to achieve the decades-old dream of commercializing nuclear fusion. With its Series B2 funding round, the startup has raised about $3 billion in capital since it was spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2018. That’s just under one-third of the $9.8 billion in total funding for fusion companies globally. The new funding comes as CFS aims to have its SPARC reactor running by 2026, and to produce more energy in its reactor than is needed to power the machine by the next year. CFS is also advancing its plans to build the world’s first grid-scale fusion power plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia, with the goal of putting power on the grid in the early 2030s. Google has agreed to buy half of the carbon-free electricity produced at the facility, which will go on a site owned by the utility Dominion Energy.