Canada’s General Fusion has announced new funding of CAD20m ($14.5m) from Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) and the Business Development Bank of Canada’s investment arm, BDC Capital. This brings total funding for General Fusion’s LM26 programme to CAD71m since its launch in 2023.
CNL and BDC Capital are each contributing CAD10m to enable General Fusion to continue advancing Magnetised Target Fusion (MTF) technology with the aim of supplying fusion energy to the grid by the early to mid-2030s.
General Fusion is advancing its Lawson Machine 26 (LM26) demonstration programme in Richmond, British Comumbia. This is designed to achieve two transformational milestones for fusion energy – temperatures of over 100 million degrees Celsius (10 keV) and scientific breakeven equivalent. “This new funding moves us towards the next phase of LM26, compressing plasmas at large scale, which is a key milestone on our path to reach transformational results for commercialisation,” noted General Fusion.
As a new lead investor in the financing, CNL will be represented on General Fusion’s board of directors by Doug McIntyre, Vice-President, Legal & Insurance. BDC has been a major investor in General Fusion since 2019 and is represented on its board by Zoltan Tompa, Senior Partner at BDC Capital’s Climate Tech Fund.
“This investment in General Fusion will advance the LM26 programme to demonstrate fusion conditions and scientific energy breakeven, which in turn will accelerate and derisk the company’s pathway to commercial fusion energy,” said Zoltan Tompa. “As a long-term investor in General Fusion, we’re pleased to partner with CNL, a globally preeminent nuclear science laboratory and a strategically important addition to General Fusion’s global investor base.”
In addition to the lead investments, the first closing of this financing also includes investment from Hatch, a Canadian headquartered consultancy firm specialising in the mining, energy, and infrastructure sectors, and other company shareholders.
CNL’s investment is being facilitated through the New Nuclear and Emerging Technologies (N2ET) programme, an active portfolio of work underway at Canada’s national nuclear laboratories to advance fusion and advanced energy technology research and commercialisation domestically. Through a series of joint projects conducted as part of CNL’s Canadian Nuclear Research Initiative (CNRI) programme, CNL and General Fusion have already been working together to advance the design of General Fusion’s power plant.
That work included an analysis by CNL of tritium breeding technologies and tritium management facilities. Tritium is a primary component of fusion fuel. More recently, the teams collaborated on research related to the fusion machine, balance of plant, and power conversion system for General Fusion’s MTF machine design.
Greg Twinney, General Fusion CEO said the new investment from CNL and BDC represents a major vote of confidence in General Fusion. “Through this financing, General Fusion continues to not only advance our LM26 program but also build the strategic partnerships we need to make this clean, baseload energy source a reality. With long-standing and continued support from BDC and a new opportunity to leverage the capabilities of CNL and AECL through the N2NET program, this investment is an exciting and momentous step forward for fusion energy development in Canada. We’re proud to lead the way with a uniquely practical approach to clean fusion power – Magnetised Target Fusion.”
CNL President & CEO Jack Craig noted: “CNL and General Fusion share the same vision – to unlock fusion’s tremendous potential as a transformative, clean energy future in Canada in order to fight climate change and maintain our energy security,” said,. “We are proud to invest in such an innovative Canadian company, applying our unique capabilities and expertise within Canada’s national nuclear laboratory to help bring their technology to life and secure these environmental and economic benefits to Canada.”
