Commonwealth Fusion completes promising test of magnet tech, key to commercializing fusion energy

A man in a large manufacturing building works on a large circular magnet which he is standing in the middle of.

Photo | Courtesy of Commonwealth Fusion Systems A CFS employee works on an electromagnet at the company's Devens campus.

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By Eric Casey

Commonwealth Fusion Systems has taken another small step toward a big technological breakthrough, as it has successfully built and tested an electromagnet the Devens-based company says is key to getting its fusion energy plant online.

CFS successfully tested its Central Solenoid Model Coil, a high-temperature electromagnet built to withstand electrical current pulses, which ramp up and down, according to a press release issued by the company on Monday.

The latest test, building off the testing of a different electromagnet in 2021, is an important milestone in the company’s quest to commercialize fusion energy creation, a technology previously limited to small-scale academic research.

“When we hit the button and put current through the magnet, it performed like a champ and hit all its major test objectives,” Brandon Sorbom, co-founder and chief science officer at CFS, said in the Monday release. “The fact that our team was able to develop this technology all the way from benchtop to a fully integrated, at-scale superconducting magnet in just a couple of years is huge.”

Electromagnets are needed in fusion energy technology to control superheated plasma fuel within the fusion reactor, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. CFS has previously described its magnet technology as the secret sauce, which has allowed it to make progress toward the much-discussed fusion technology. The technology could provide large amounts of clean nuclear energy without the creation of the highly radioactive, long-lived nuclear waste created by fission technology.

The magnet test comes after CFS received a license in October from the state to store radioactive materials at its Devens campus.

Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.