1983
JET - Joint European Torus
EUROfusion / UKAEA Culham
TokamakPublic
$1.8B
Energy Breakthroughs and Milestones
Interactive tracker of 25 nuclear fusion projects worldwide: from ITER to Helion, from NIF to Commonwealth Fusion's SPARC. Explore approaches, funding milestones and the path towards commercialization by 2050.
FreeClient-side processingGuest access allowedProjects - Snapshot 202625
Static dataset based on official press releases, peer-reviewed papers, FIA 2023 reports and public sources (ITER Organization, DOE, EUROfusion, LLNL). Funding and milestones updated to May 2026. Not intended as energy or financial advice.
25Projects
$61.6BTotal funding
12Personal/Private/VC (Venture Capital) funding
9Publics
1Reached Q > 1
Filters
Physical approach
Financing
Current milestone
Country
Year of foundation
1980 – 2025
Year of founding timeline (1980-2025)
25 projectsConcept
Construction
First Plasma
Q > 1
Q-Target
Commercial Target
All projects
1997
NIF - National Ignition Facility
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (DOE)
Inertial LaserPublic
$3.5B
1998
TAE Technologies (ex Tri Alpha Energy)
TAE Technologies Inc.
Aneutronic (p-B11)Private / VC
$1.2B
1999
NSTX-U / MAST-U Spherical Tokamak
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL)
Spherical TokamakPublic
$350M
2002
General Fusion
General Fusion Inc.
Magnetized TargetHybrid
$400M
2003
LPPFusion (Dense Plasma Focus)
LPPFusion Inc.
Aneutronic (p-B11)Private / VC
$5M
2006
EAST - Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak
Institute of Plasma Physics (ASIPP), Hefei
TokamakPublic
$900M
2007
ITER
ITER Organization (35 paesi)
TokamakPublic
$22B
2008
KSTAR - Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research
Korea Institute of Fusion Energy (KFE)
TokamakPublic
$800M
2009
Tokamak Energy ST40
Tokamak Energy Ltd.
Spherical TokamakHybrid
$250M
2011
First Light Fusion
First Light Fusion Ltd.
Inertial-MagneticPrivate / VC
$70M
2013
Helion Energy
Helion Energy Inc.
Magnetized TargetPrivate / VC
$2.8B
2014
Compact Fusion Reactor (Lockheed Skunk Works)
Lockheed Martin Skunk Works
Magnetized TargetHybrid
$200M
2015
Wendelstein 7-X
Max Planck Institut für Plasmaphysik (IPP)
StellaratorPublic
$1.3B
2017
HB11 Energy
HB11 Energy Pty Ltd.
Aneutronic (p-B11)Private / VC
$15M
2017
Zap Energy - Sheared Flow Z-Pinch
Zap Energy Inc.
Inertial-MagneticPrivate / VC
$200M
2018
SPARC (Commonwealth Fusion Systems)
Commonwealth Fusion Systems / MIT PSFC
TokamakPrivate / VC
$2B
2018
ENI-MIT CFS Partnership
ENI S.p.A. + MIT PSFC + Commonwealth Fusion Systems
TokamakHybrid
$500M
2019
Type One Energy
Type One Energy Group
StellaratorPrivate / VC
$29M
2019
Marvel Fusion
Marvel Fusion GmbH
Inertial LaserPrivate / VC
$60M
2020
DEMO - DEMOnstration Power Station
EUROfusion Consortium (EU)
TokamakPublic
$15B
2021
TAE Power Systems
TAE Power Systems (spin-off TAE Technologies)
Aneutronic (p-B11)Private / VC
$200M
2021
Realta Fusion (ex Agni Energy)
Realta Fusion Inc.
Magnetized TargetPrivate / VC
$13M
2022
CFETR - China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor
ASIPP / SWIP (Southwestern Institute of Physics)
TokamakPublic
$8B
2022
Proxima Fusion
Proxima Fusion GmbH
StellaratorPrivate / VC
$20M
Plasma Physics: Key Concepts
Lawson Criterion and Q-Factor Criteria
Energy produced / energy inputted. Q=1 breakeven scientific (NIF 2022: Q=1.54). Commercial reactor: Q>10–30. ITER target Q=10. The Lawson criterion requires n·τ > 20 m-3⋅s and T > 100 million K.
Tokamak vs Stellarator vs Inertial
Tokamak (toroidal current, disruptions possible): JET, ITER, SPARC. Stellarator (elliptical geometry, steady-state): Wendelstein 7-X, Type One. Inertial confinement by laser (compressed DT target): NIF. Magnetized target: Helion, General Fusion.
The private race to fusion
From 2021 over $6 billion in private fusion investments (FIA 2023). CFS: $2 billion (Gates, Breakthrough Energy). Helion: $2.8B (Sam Altman/Y Combinator). TAE: $1.2B (Google). Zap Energy: $160M (Chevron). First time VC competes with national decade-long programs.
Lex Fridman Key Episodes
Episodes #83 and #162: Dennis Whyte (MIT PSFC) on SPARC and HTS magnets, Episodes #308: Sam Altman on Helion and Microsoft PPA, Episode #365: Tyler Cowen + energy as the bottleneck of civilization available at lexfridman.com/podcast.
Come utilizzare Fusion Energy Timeline Tracker
Explore the timeline of our 25 fusion energy projects
Scroll through the interactive timeline ordered by year of foundation, from historic projects like JET and ITER to the latest private startups such as Helion and Commonwealth Fusion Systems.
Filter by country, physical approach, funding or milestone
Combine filters by country (USA, EU, UK, China, etc.), technical approach (tokamak, stellarator, inertial laser, magnetized target), funding type (public, VC private, hybrid) and achieved milestones (concept, construction, first plasma, Q>1, commercial target).
Constrict time interval and change ordering
Use the year of foundation slider to focus on a specific period, and switch from annual ordering to total funding collected ordering to better compare best-funded projects.
Open project detail sheet
Click on a point on the timeline or a project card to view details: Q factor, declared commercial target, funding sources, and references to official sources used for the dataset.
Suggerimenti
- Combine filter for milestones "Q1" with funding filter to quickly identify the most mature and capitalized projects.
- Use total funding order instead of year when comparing project economic scales regardless of when they were started.
- Check boxes at the bottom of the page for more information (fusion physics, Q factor, private race) to better contextualize filtered data in the timeline.
Domande frequenti
Where do the data on nuclear fusion projects come from?
The dataset is static and based on official communications, peer-reviewed papers, the Fusion Industry Association (FIA) 2023 report, and public sources such as ITER Organization, DOE, EUROfusion, and LLNL, as indicated in the disclaimer on this page. Funding and milestones are updated to May 2026 snapshot.
What does "Q factor" mean on a project's sheet?
Q factor is the ratio of energy produced by fusion reaction to the energy input to initiate it: a Q greater than 1 (scientific ignition) means that the reaction produces more energy than it consumes, a milestone achieved for the first time by NIF in 2022. The tool reports the declared Q value for each project when available.
What's the difference between tokamak, stellarator and inertial fusion?
The tokamak confines plasma with a toroidal current (used by JET, ITER, SPARC), but is subject to possible "disruptions". The stellarator uses a more complex elliptical geometry for stationary operation (Wendelstein 7-X). An inertial approach compresses a fuel target with laser (NIF) or magnetic fields (Helion, General Fusion) in very short pulses.
Why are there so many projects funded by private capital?
Since 2021 the sector has attracted over $6 billion in private investment according to the Fusion Industry Association, with notable rounds such as $2 billion from Commonwealth Fusion Systems (Gates, Breakthrough Energy) and $2.8 billion from Helion (Sam Altman/Y Combinator): it is the first time venture capital directly competes with decades-long national programs like ITER.
Are these data up-to-date in real-time?
No, the dataset is a static snapshot updated to May 2026, as indicated on page: no external API is queried, so funding, milestones, and Q factor reflect the known situation at data collection time, not necessarily the latest state of each project.