Construction of world's 1st nuclear fusion plant starts in Washington

Helion Energy, a Washington-based startup backed by OpenAI’s Sam Altman and SoftBank’s venture capital arm, has commenced construction of the world’s first nuclear fusion power plant, named Orion, in Chelan County, Washington. The project aims to produce low-cost, zero-carbon electricity by harnessing nuclear fusion using fuel derived from water. Helion plans to begin electricity generation by 2028 and supply power directly to Microsoft data centers through a power purchase agreement established in 2023, with Constellation Energy acting as the power marketer. The site was chosen for its access to major transmission networks and its history of energy innovation. Helion has made significant technological strides, having previously achieved fuel temperatures of 100 million degrees Celsius with its prototype Trenta, a key milestone for commercial fusion viability. The company is currently developing a newer prototype, Polaris, in Everett, Washington, to address the challenge of generating more energy from fusion than is consumed to sustain the reaction—a hurdle that fusion energy research