RE-ENERGIZING DEVENS
Commonwealth Fusion Systems celebrates its newest campus
State and federal dignitaries gatheredfriday, Feb. 10, to celebrate the launch of Commonwealth Fusion Systems’ newest campus, which is set to support the future development and deployment of commercial fusion energy.
Headlined by U. S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, an entourage that included energy advocates U. S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey and U. S. Rep. Lori Trahan toured the campus, home to CFS’S new SPARC facility. A collaborative project with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, SPARC, once complete, will be the world’s first commercially viable net energy fusion machine, using high-temperature superconducting magnets to produce energy through nuclear fusion.
The facility is expected to be operational in 2025 while ARC, CFS’S future fusion power plant that will expand on SPARC tech
nology, is expected to launch in the early 2030s, according to CFS.
CFS CEO Bobmumgaard said the new campus represented CFS’S “commitment” to fusion energy and the fight against climate change. Granholm concurred and said both the ceremony and the state’s partnership with CFS was a “great
moment” for the future of the planet.
“So, of all the things that could affect climate change, why did we choose fusion? Because the universe already chose fusion,” Mumgaard said. “Fusion is the thing that powers the stars, that built all the atoms in everything around us — when you look up into the night sky,
you see fusion power plants.”
“This (new campus) is just the beginning,” he said.
“Massachusetts has such a rich history of being onthe forefront: you’re the place where the first telephone call was made; the place where the typewriter was invented; the place where the industry standards for the
internet happened; the place where the chocolate chip cookie was invented,” Granholm said. “You are on the cutting edge of so much — but this Commonwealth Fusion Systems effort, for the world, could be the most momentous of all.”
Traditional nuclear power has long been produced through fission, a physical process where large, unstable atoms are split into lighter nuclei. When each atom is split, a tremendous amount of energy is released; in a fission power plant, that process is used to heat water into steam, which is then used to spin a turbine and produce carbon-free electricity.
Fusion, meanwhile, is almost the inverse of the fission process; two smaller atoms are slammed together at high speeds to fuse them into a single, larger product. This process can produce even more energy than the fission process and can do so without creating highly radioactive fission products and or waste.
Previously, fusion had been an unviable energy alternative due to the tremendous amount of pressure and temperature required to fuse nuclei together. That said, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility in California were able to produce the first fusion reaction resulting in a net energy gain last December, while CFS’S compact SPARC technology is expected to do the same.
Warren said she was “proud” of Massachusetts’ position as a “leader” in fusion technologies. Markey praised the administration of Gov. Maura Healey, which he said was “poised” to make Massachusetts the “energy innovation state for the world,” and thanked CFS for their efforts in terms of combating climate change and creating jobs.
“The Industrial Revolution started right here (in Massachusetts), so it would make sense that, where this sort of revolutionary thinking began, that we have a new kind of revolution of power that is going to be created here for the first time and commercialized,” Markey said. “We thank Commonwealth (Fusion Systems) for so much that you are doing — this is a historic breakthrough and you are going to make the difference for the future and recharting our climate trajectory.
“We thank you for building a brighter, sustainable future — not just for Devens, not just for Massachusetts, but for the planet. We have your back and we’ll continue to help you on that path,” he added.
Trahan, whom Markey referred to as an “incredible, future-oriented” member of Congress and “leader of the Second Industrial Revolution,” said she was “giddy” to be part of the ceremony. She called CFS’S work “groundbreaking” and praised Granholm, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and the congressional delegation present for their “unprecedented” support of that work across the country.
“The work being done here to get us closer to unlocking low- cost, carbon-free fusion energy is groundbreaking — and CFS is doing it in record time,” Trahan said. “Today, we find ourselves on the precipice of another revolution — a clean energy revolution — and this facility is another shining example of how Massachusetts, under the leadership of Gov. Healey and Lt. Gov. (Kim) Driscoll is going to lead the way once again.”
Beyond SPARC, the new campus is host to CFS’S corporate headquarters as well as an advanced manufacturing facility that will support both SPARC and future ARC power plants. The campus is also expected to expand in the future to include the development of additional facilities and advanced research and development projects, according to CFS.
For more information on CFS or their work, visit cfs. energy.