The developer of a what is aimed to be a scaled up 400-MW nuclear fusion power plant described as the world’s largest is scurrying to secure construction permits and added funding, with an announcement in recent days that it will build the facility in Chesterfield County, Va. on a 100-acre site leased by state utility giant Dominion Energy. 

Fusion tech startup firm Commonwealth Fusion Systems said its ARC plant, set to operate by the early 2030s, would begin development next year even before a smaller prototype is completed at its Fort Devens, Mass., base. 

ARC technology uses powerful magnets to contain and control nuclear fusion fuel, different than plants based on traditional nuclear fission processes. 

The site and timeframe for the ARC project were announced by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) and company co-founder and CEO Bob Mumgaard after what they said was a global search of about 100 locations for construction of the commercial-scale power project. 

Benefits of the Virginia site near Richmond include being in a high power demand region, largely pushed by artificial intelligence, which is making it one of the country's fastest growing U.S. data center hubs, both said. A state legislative report noted earlier this month that data center demand in Virginia, about 10,000 MW today, could reach 30,000 MW by 2040 if transmission infrastructure was available.

The site also is close to a grid connection, transportation, an available skilled workforce and “a receptive community,” Mumgaard said. 

Commonwealth did not disclose the project cost, with some media sources estimating it at about $3 billion. Since the firm's 2018 launch from technology incubators at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by university alumni, it has raised more than $2 billion from an estimated 60 private investors that include Bill Gates, Google, Equinor and Italian oil and gas giant Eni.

Youngkin said the power plant would bring billions of dollars in regional economic development.

The firm now is completing the estimated $500-million fusion complex, which includes construction of a doughnut-shaped tokamak prototype called SPARC that will heat hydrogen atoms to about 180 million°F. Resulting plasma is squeezed by a powerful magnetic field to fuse atoms and release energy. It is predicted to produce 50-100 MW of fusion power, with its first plasma output in 2026,

Commonwealth did not confirm by posting time members of the ARC project design and construction team, but those working on the SPARC prototype and other tasks at the Fort Devens site are engineer HDR and BOND Construction as primary design firm and contractor for all building phases, with Thornton Tomasetti and VHB as structural and civil engineer, respectively, 

Youngkin said the developer will finance the project, with the plant selling power to specific offtakers via power purchase agreements and directly into the regional PJM Interconnection grid. Commonwealth did not disclose any customer names.

In addition to the private investment, the ARC project has $16.5 million in U.S. Dept. of Energy technology funding, with small investments also from the state Clean Energy Innovation Bank and the county, as well as equipment tax exemptions.

identifying a location is “the longest lead time part of building a power plant,” said Mumgaard, describing the site as one with a soon-to-retire coal-fired power plant that was originally set to have a natural gas power facility as its replacement. "Dominion will provide us with development and technical expertise while we’ll provide them with knowledge about how to build and operate fusion power plants,” he said. 

The ARC plant gained state approval after the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission last year determined that fusion technology would not require federal licensing. But the project still will need other permits from local, state, and federal authorities. The local permit application is set for review early next year and could be approved by summer.

Meanwhile, commercial fusion firm Focused Energy also announced a partnership with "ultrafast" laser developer Amplitude to advance two laser systems for inertial fusion energy, with beamlines to be installed at the developer's planned $65-million laser development facility in the San Francisco Bay Area that was announced earlier this year.