General Fusion fires up its newest steampunk fusion reactor

General Fusion announced on Tuesday that it had successfully created plasma, a superheated fourth state of matter required for fusion, inside a prototype reactor. The milestone marks the beginning of a 93-week quest to prove that the outfit’s steampunk approach to fusion power remains a viable contender. The reactor, called Lawson Machine 26 (LM26), is General Fusion’s latest iteration in a string of devices that have tested various parts of its unique approach. The company assembled LM26 in just 16 months, and it hopes to hit “breakeven” sometime in 2026. General Fusion is one of the oldest fusion companies still operating. Founded in 2002, it has raised $440 million to date, according to PitchBook. Over that time, it has seen competitors rise and fall, and, like the fusion industry writ large, it has failed to meet breakeven promises, including one made over 20 years ago. In fusion power, there are two points at which a reaction is said to breakeven. The one most people think of i ... Read full article.