Our LM26 machine is now forming magnetized plasmas with the lifetimes we need to begin our large-scale plasma compression program to achieve breakthrough fusion and heating results! LM26 will demonstrate our practical Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) path to power—an approach that addresses the material degradation, fuel sustainability, energy extraction, and cost barriers that other fusion technologies still face. It is advancing towards a series of results that will demonstrate MTF in a commercially relevant way: 10 million degrees Celsius (1 keV), 100 million degrees Celsius (10 keV), and scientific breakeven equivalent (100% Lawson).
“Building LM26 in just 16 months and quickly bringing it online was an extraordinary feat by our team. We’ve created more than 200,000 plasmas with prior machines, but when we turned on and achieved first plasma in our new large-scale LM26 machine—it was an incredibly powerful moment that stood out from the rest. Of course, there are many more exciting milestones to come with LM26 and on our path to powering a cleaner, greener future with practical fusion energy, but turning on LM26 was truly historic for us. Onward to first plasma compression!” — General Fusion CEO Greg Twinney
The General Fusion team in front of our completed LM26 machine in Richmond, B.C.
Over the past quarter, our LM26 fusion demonstration program has progressed rapidly on time and on budget. We’re now ready for the next big step. The team has optimized LM26’s plasma performance and installed the machine’s first lithium liner—we’re ready to begin compressing plasmas! To catch you up, here’s what we’ve been up to so far in early 2025:
- Preparing for plasma operations—bringing the machine’s pulse power, magnet, gas delivery, controls, and diagnostics systems online.
- Achieving first plasma and beginning daily operations of LM26—regularly forming magnetized plasmas in the machine’s target chamber.
- Publishing strong pre-compression results that further derisk LM26’s transformative targets.
- Ramping up our on-site liner production operations—casting the liner for the machine’s inaugural plasma compression shot.
- Testing each process for our first plasma compression—successfully installing the lithium liner while maintaining an inert environment.
Learn more about our journey to prepare for this pivotal moment in our LM26 operations below, and look back at our rapid progress in designing and building the machine in our January, June, and December 2024 recaps.
Watch: The team loads a lithium liner into LM26 for our first plasma compression shot!
Marking the completion of LM26 with the global innovation ecosystem
We officially cut the ribbon and kicked off operations in February with first plasma. About 100 of our closest collaborators from around the world joined us at our Richmond facility to celebrate LM26, and we were thrilled to host representatives from the Canadian and B.C. governments. It was also an incredible moment to recognize the tremendous effort of our team, which had rapidly designed and built it.
First plasma milestone achieved on time and on budget
Immediately after LM26 was assembled in December 2024, our team began preparing the machine for operations. We insulated the machine and heated it under vacuum to conduct a “bake-out” process, installed and calibrated our first suite of diagnostics, including sensors to measure the magnetic structure of the plasma inside LM26, and connected the pulse power control systems. In February, the machine was ready to begin forming plasmas.
Preparing for plasma compression
In LM26, we will mechanically compress our spherical tokamak plasmas with a lithium liner to achieve key temperature thresholds for fusion using our MTF approach. Our LM26 casting operations—underway now—exemplify our team’s rapid innovation and scaling capabilities. The liners we will compress in LM26 are one of a kind. We manufacture them on-site using a custom die-casting system we’ve built to form the liners. The method from start to finish is similar to the one we designed and tested for Prototype 0—LM26’s small-scale compression testbed. During P0 operations, we created and compressed 40 lithium liners and learned a lot! We built a custom lathe and learned to machine lithium to create the surface we need for each liner. It’s a process we’ve now scaled up for LM26, including building a much bigger lathe!
Each liner takes about a week to fabricate. To create the liners, we load lithium ingots into the form (which consists of an inner and outer die), heat and melt them, and then plunge the liquid metal with a casting drive system. This moves the liquid up the walls of the form, creating a large cylinder. We then cool it, so it solidifies into a tube. We carefully remove the liner from the form using a custom hoist. Some finishing work is completed before the liner is transferred to LM26.
After a liner is cast, it is transferred to LM26 using our custom-built Inert Transfer Stage. The system holds the liner during transport and then connected to a track system in front of LM26 to ensure it is loaded into the machine with precision. The vehicle will also support the extraction of each liner after it is compressed by maintaining an inert environment inside the machine. The extraction process with a test liner was successful, significantly derisking our ability to maintain our planned operating schedule for compressing plasmas in LM26.
Novel diagnostics system provides a look inside LM26 during operations
Our imaging system for LM26 allows us to see what’s happening inside the machine during each run. The advanced optomechanical designs provide wide-field and narrow high-resolution views using high-speed cameras, imaging fibers, in-vacuum optics, and optical relays to capture the plasma and liner symmetry during compression. The video below shows footage from the camera systems during a plasma shot.
More peer-reviewed scientific results solidify LM26’s path to 1 keV, 10 keV, and beyond
LM26’s transformative technical milestones are within reach because of our more than 20 years of technology development backed by key peer-reviewed results, which give us confidence in the milestones we’re targeting when compressing plasmas at large scale to reach higher fusion yields. As our founder and Chief Science Officer, Michel Laberge, says, “We’re ready to make some fusion happen in LM26!”
The scientific journal Nuclear Fusion recently published peer-reviewed results that confirm General Fusion has successfully created magnetized plasmas with an energy confinement time that exceeds the requirement for LM26. Our PI3 plasma injector—now integrated into LM26—achieved energy confinement times exceeding 10 milliseconds without needing active magnetic stabilization or auxiliary heating. A 10-millisecond energy confinement time is required to compress plasmas in LM26 to achieve key temperature thresholds of 1 keV, 10 keV, and, ultimately, 100% Lawson. The maximum energy confinement time achieved by PI3 was approximately 12 milliseconds. The machine’s maximum plasma density was approximately 6×1019 m-3, and maximum plasma temperatures exceeded 400 eV. These strong pre-compression results support LM26’s transformative targets.
Additionally, in late 2024, Nuclear Fusion published our world-first achievements in plasma compression, that underpin and derisk LM26. These results were achieved during our multi-year Plasma Compression Science campaign, which ran from 2013 to 2019. During the campaign, neutron yield increased significantly, exceeding 600 million neutrons per second in one compression shot.
Why LM26? Fast-tracking to a clean fusion energy power plant
Our large-scale fusion demonstration program prepares us to build a full-scale, engineering breakeven plant, then a first-of-a-kind power plant to produce electricity by the mid-2030s. After we achieve 100% Lawson in LM26, our path to power is more straightforward than others, as we’ve front-loaded the work to overcome the barriers to commercialization. Our founder, Michel, recently told Global News: “When LM26 achieves these results, it will show the world we can make a power plant using MTF.”
As we look beyond LM26 and propel our practical technology to powering the grid, we’ve added key expertise in advancing game-changing technologies to our team. Earlier this month, we announced that former Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith had joined General Fusion as a strategic advisor. Bob will leverage his more than 35 years of experience developing, scaling, and launching world-changing technologies to help guide us in our technology development and strategic growth.
“I’ve been watching the fusion energy industry closely for my entire career. Fusion is the last energy source humanity will ever need, and I believe its impact as a zero-carbon energy source will transform the global energy supply at the time needed to fight the worst consequences of climate change. I am thrilled to work with General Fusion. Their novel approach has inherent and distinctive benefits for the generation of commercially competitive fusion power. It’s exciting to join at a time when the team is about to demonstrate the fundamental physics behind their system and move to scaling up to a pilot plant.” — General Fusion strategic advisor Bob Smith
Follow along on our path to transformative results with LM26 and powering a zero-carbon future with clean fusion energy. Keep your eyes peeled on our social media accounts for all our latest updates.
