A private company working toward the commercialization of fusion energy is currently considering the city of Livermore among the potential sites for its new fusion research facility.
Proposed by Pacific Fusion, the demonstration system is meant to achieve net facility gain, wherein fusion energy output exceeds all stored energy. The achievement would mark a milestone in demonstrating that fusion — a reaction where two nuclei merge to form a single heavier nucleus and energy is released — is a practical source of clean, on-demand power, Pacific Fusion president and co-founder Will Regan explained.
In addition to scientific gain, the approximately billion-dollar investment would provide about $120 million in tax revenue to the city over a 10-year period as well as 250 permanent jobs and additional auxiliary positions, according to Pacific Fusion infrastructure lead Courtney Richardson.
Pacific Fusion officials broached the subject June 26 at a nearly full town hall meeting in Livermore, but as of now Pacific Fusion is still deciding whether to locate its facility in Alameda or Livermore.
The company intends to decide the location for the facility by the end of the year, based on cost and timeline considerations as well as the communities’ reception, Pacific Fusion officials said. The company then aims to break ground on the project during 2026 and reach net facility gain by 2030.
This fall, Livermore City Council is set to consider the proposal as well.
“The electrical demand that we’re currently being challenged with in California is skyrocketing,” Richardson said during the town hall. “Paired with utility company’s renewable energy goals, we need clean, firm, low-cost power solutions and fusion can be that solution.”
The proposed facility is set for consideration at an approximately 52-acre property dubbed SMP 39, located on West Jack London Boulevard south of the Livermore Municipal Airport.
Annexed into Livermore last year, the city eyed SMP 39 as a future hub to generate jobs and tax-revenue, city of Livermore innovation and economic development director Brandon Cardwell said at the meeting.
“Increasingly our resident workforce is very knowledge-oriented,” Cardwell explained. “We want to make sure we’re holding land available for uses that provides the kinds of jobs that those people can fill, so you can work a little bit closer to home.”
“Pacific Fusion is exactly the kind of project that we were envisioning,” Cardwell added, regarding the site’s exclusive zoning compared to nearby property SMP 40.
The site is well suited for industrial use, as there are not many residences nearby, Cardwell said. Following construction of the facility, there would remain approximately 35 acres of land.
The facility would also help to meet many of Livermore’s strategic goals including those related to climate action and economic development, city officials said. More specifically, these goals include fostering an innovative and green economy, job creation as well as attracting related businesses wanting to locate in Livermore near Pacific Fusion and the national labs.
“It really intersects with a lot of what the city is interested in,” Councilmember Kristie Wang later told Livermore Vine.
While interested in the project, Wang said she needs to see the proposal details prior to making any official determinations.
In 2023, Pacific Fusion was founded with the goal of powering the world with abundant, affordable and clean energy, according to the company’s website.
Its founding followed on the heels of the world’s first fusion ignition event in a controlled experiment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility in 2022. In this experiment, the fusion energy output was greater than the input energy.
The labs’ accomplishment was a “major advancement” in the field of fusion, Pacific Fusion co-founder and chief technology officer Keith LeChien said at the town hall.
“Without it, we probably would have never started Pacific Fusion,” LeChien said.
“The technology that we’re pursuing directly builds upon not only the national ignition facility, but technologies that have been developed by Sandia National Laboratories, and in that case predominately in Albuquerque, New Mexico,” LeChien added.
Compared to NIF, Pacific Fusion uses a different, pulser-driven path to inertial fusion, Regan explained. But it is inspired by pioneering work by both LLNL and Sandia.
Taking a deeper look at the demonstration system, it will create fusion conditions for deuterium-tritium fuel by magnetically squeezing and heating small containers of the fuel via fast-rising, high-current pulses, according to a founders’ letter from the company last year.
These fusion reactions could serve as the ideal power source because they do not emit carbon dioxide and the process requires less materials and land than other power sources, the letter states.
Currently, Pacific Fusion operates three facilities including a test center and headquarters in Fremont, a larger build center in San Leandro and a smaller lab in Livermore.
The company also holds cooperative research and development agreements with Sandia and LLNL.
“We view our mission as deeply complementary — building on decades of breakthroughs at the national laboratories to develop practical fusion systems capable of producing affordable, firm power,” Regan added.
As for future operations, the site would not be a power plant and it would not operate 24/7. Instead, the facility would “charge” once daily and otherwise operate using low-levels of energy throughout the day, LeChien explained.
Pacific Fusion is currently conducting a large load study to ensure proper power connection at the site as well as the addition of on-site storage to reduce peak load, LeChien said.
Unlike nuclear fission, fusion energy technology does not have the potential for runaway reactions that can lead to meltdowns, city officials said.
Additionally, this facility would not produce “long-lived” radioactive waste, LeChien explained. Tritium, a part of the fusion fuel that allows for the reaction, has a half-life of approximately 12 years. This means its reactivity decreases by a factor of two over the course of 12 years. By comparison, the uranium used in fission systems can have a half-life lasting tens of thousands of years.
“The demonstration facility is being designed upfront to keep workers, members of the public and the environment safe,” LeChien said.
As part of safety precautions, Pacific Fusion has partnered with the California Department of Public Health’s Radiologic Health Branch, which enforces the laws and regulations addressing ionizing radiation. Licensing through this branch allows companies like Pacific Fusion to have Tritium.
Fusion research also has federal support, apparent through the existence of the NIF, LeChien said.
Currently, Pacific Fusion is in the process of building the system’s first module at its Fremont facility. After completion, mass production of the modules is set to take place at the San Leandro site, according to officials.
Pacific Fusion is privately funded and has over $900 million dollars in Series A funding, according to Richardson. Its current funds are expected to last through its accomplishment of net facility gain.
