In the News — 2026
October 7, 2026
Inside the Lab: Beyond solid optics: using plasma and gas to control high-power laser light
This work grew from LLNL research on laser-plasma interactions and cross-beam energy transfer at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). (R&D World)
October 1, 2026
Nuclear fusion can create economic opportunity for Singapore: Tan See Leng
Tapping the process of nuclear fusion for energy generation may still be some years away, but there are economic opportunities in this area that Singapore is well placed to capture, Minister for Energy, Trade and Industry (Energy and Industry) Tan See Leng said on Oct 1. (The Straits Times)
September 28, 2026
Inside Rochester’s Laser Lab: Home to The World’s Largest Academic Laser
The University of Rochester is home to more than a world-renowned music school and premier programs in optics and research. Just a short drive away from River Campus is the world’s largest academic laser. (Campus Times)
September 25, 2026
Fusion-Ignition Physicist Tammy Ma to Keynote Caltech Convocation Friday
Caltech will formally welcome its incoming undergraduate and graduate students Friday morning at its annual Convocation in Beckman Auditorium, where fusion physicist Tammy Ma, a 2005 Caltech graduate and member of the team behind the December 2022 fusion-ignition breakthrough at the National Ignition Facility, will deliver the keynote address. (Pasadena Now)
September 17, 2026
America’s secret weapon in the nuclear race
Washington can tap a unique advantage as Beijing races ahead on fusion: private enterprise. (Washington Post)
September 17, 2026
After the spark: How a national lab is helping power commercial fusion
For years, the scientists and engineers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory tried to light a fire in a way that had never been done before. A massive team and hundreds of experiments went into the effort without success, until December 2022. (San Francisco Business Times)
September 16, 2026
Small fusion reactors compete to generate reliable, safe electricity
While progress begins on small, modular nuclear fission reactors across the United States for electric generation, others are betting on fusion, the still-experimental fusing of lightweight atoms that powered Tony Stark’s fictional Iron Man suit. (Spokane Spokesman-Review)
September 13, 2026
Fusion power startups find new partners in the defense world
The national security angle never really went away. A groundbreaking fusion power experiment in 2022 happened at the National Ignition Facility, which has supported national security applications for more than 25 years. (TechCrunch)
August 27, 2026
Inertia Hits Key Fusion ‘Fast Fueling’ Milestone
Inertia hopes to commercialize technology proven at LLNL’s NIF in which a barrage of lasers, fired at a fuel pellet, causes the pellet to collapse with enough momentum to trigger nuclear fusion. (The Independent)
August 27, 2026
State Senate advances McNerney bill to accelerate fusion energy
The state Legislature Wednesday unanimously approved Sen. Jerry McNerney’s SB 925, which would accelerate the development of fusion energy in California – a potential clean power gamechanger. (Manteca Bulletin)
August 25, 2026
Could nuclear fusion become economically viable?
Some scientists have come up with a way of measuring its commercial value. (Financial Times)
August 25, 2026
Pacific Fusion’s next fusion machine could clear a key hurdle to commercial power
Pacific Fusion is one step closer to commercializing fusion power after breaking ground Tuesday on a facility in New Mexico designed to generate as much energy as it consumes. (TechCrunch)
August 25, 2026
Inertia and LLNL accelerate fusion fuel manufacturing
Inertia Enterprises and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have developed a manufacturing process for the thin layer of cryogenically frozen deuterium-tritium (D-T) used in its target design, reducing production time from days to hours, according to the company. (Nuclear Newswire)
August 21, 2026
Scientists Recreate the Melting ‘Diamond Rain’ of Neptune and Uranus. It May Help Fusion Power
A U.S. government lab has recreated the truly alien conditions that melt diamonds deep inside ice giant planets—and the technique could triple the energy gains for some fusion reactors. (Gizmodo)
August 20, 2026
Inertia Enterprises finds a way to make its fusion fuel fast
Fusion startup Inertia Enterprises said it has found a way to cut the time it takes to make its fuel pellets from several days to just minutes. (TechCrunch)
August 19, 2026
How Tennessee is becoming a hub for fusion power
Fusion startup Inertia Enterprises said it has found a way to cut the time it takes to make its fuel pellets from several days to just minutes. (WPLN-FM)
August 14, 2026
New measurement of diamond phase change could mean increased ICF energy gain
At LLNL, home to the National Ignition Facility, understanding diamond under these extreme conditions is highly intertwined with exploring inertial confinement fusion, where tiny diamond capsules are used to hold a deuterium-tritium fuel mixture. (Nuclear Newswire)
July 14, 2026
Fusion energy company opens research HQ in Livermore
Inertia’s plan builds upon the achievement of fusion ignition, first accomplished in 2022 at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility. (Livermore Vine)
July 13, 2026
Behind the scenes of Inertia's newly opened fusion facility
Inertia, a startup that's commercializing the National Ignition Facility fusion breakthroughs, opened its headquarters in Livermore, California, on Friday. (Axios)
July 9, 2026
The Fusion Energy Startup Inertia to Unveil New Livermore Facility
Fusion startup Inertia Enterprises Inc. will hold a ribbon cutting July 10 to publicly share its new Livermore location. (The Independent)
June 30, 2026
Changing laser polarization could save optics at NIF
New calculations by scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory suggest that changing the polarization of the National Ignition Facility’s lasers could reduce backscatter, an effect that can make an optic unusable after a single shot. (Nuclear Newswire)
June 10, 2026
DOE approves Xcimer’s laser fusion power plant design
With this milestone achieved, the Denver, Colo.-based company is now moving forward with its plans to develop economical laser inertial confinement fusion using two beamlines, gas laser technology, and a molten salt fusion chamber. (Nuclear Newswire)
June 2, 2026
Focused Energy raises whopping $240M Series A for laser-powered fusion tech
The company is basing its design on the experiment at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. (TechCrunch)
May 23, 2026
Giz Asks: Why Is Fusion Energy Always ’10 Years Away’?
Enough with the sarcasm—seriously, what are the actual obstacles keeping fusion energy inside lab experiments? (Gizmodo)
May 22, 2026
A look back at over a decade of inertial confinement fusion experiments
The team at the National Ignition Facility discusses the advancements that led them to ignition — and their ideas for what comes next. (AIP Scilights)
May 15, 2026
Interview Of The Week: Kimberly Budil, Director, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Kimberly S. Budil is the director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), where she leads a workforce of approximately 9,000 employees and manages an annual operating budget in excess of $3.25 billion. (The Innovator)
May 7, 2026
Lawrence lab moves toward power upgrades on the National Ignition Facility
The National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the only facility to achieve nuclear fusion in a lab, is moving toward a significant enhancement in its capabilities. (Danville San Ramon News)
May-June 2026
Three Paths to Fusion Power
Several start-ups are trying to produce fusion reactors that are as useful as traditional power plants. These efforts take three general technological approaches. (American Scientist)
April 30, 2026
Energy Department Gives Greenlight to NIF Upgrade at LLNL
A plan to upgrade the lasers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL’s) National Ignition Facility (NIF) has taken a critical step forward. (The Independent)
April 23, 2026
LLNL Partners with Inertia to Develop Laser Fusion Power
The company hopes to commercialize laser-fusion technology previously proven at LLNL’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) by optimizing the efficiency of the lasers used and of the processes that produce the fuel targets. (The Independent)
April 15, 2026
LLNL and Inertia sign R&D partnership agreements
According to Inertia, through these projects the company will work on scaling the performance and production of the fusion fuel targets used at the National Ignition Facility (NIF), and LLNL staff will apply the same inertial confinement fusion design codes used to achieve ignition to help Inertia design its high-gain fusion target with greater confidence. (Nuclear Newswire)
April 14, 2026
Inertia Enterprises Links With Livermore Lab to Commercialize Fusion Energy
The deal represents one of the largest public-private partnerships in the history of the national labs. (Heatmap)
April 14, 2026
Inertia moves to commercialize one of the world’s most elaborate science experiments
The deals could give Inertia a boost over rival startups. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at LLNL is so far the only experiment to prove that controlled fusion reactions could produce more power than they require to ignite. (TechCrunch)
April 14, 2026
Trump administration adds to US nuclear fusion bets
Fusion developer Inertia Enterprises on Tuesday forged new partnerships with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the latest sign that the Department of Energy is joining forces with energy startup companies. (E&E News by Politico)
April 10, 2026
Every fusion startup that has raised over $100M
Over the last several years, fusion power has gone from the butt of jokes — always a decade away! — to an increasingly tangible and tantalizing technology that has drawn investors off the sidelines. (TechCrunch)
April 9, 2026
We Have an Opportunity with Fusion We Can’t Afford to Miss
Thanks to the presence of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and its National Ignition Facility, we in the Tri-Valley are well-positioned to take advantage of the rise of commercial fusion power. (The Independent)
February 18, 2026
Fusion roundup: Helion sets temperature record; Inertia raises $450M
Inertia Enterprises was founded in August 2025 with the stated goal of capitalizing on and commercializing the fusion advancements made in recent years by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In December 2022, LLNL’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) conducted the first controlled fusion experiment to achieve fusion ignition. (Nuclear Newswire)
February 12, 2026
Who Will Be First To Unlock Nuclear Fusion?
While China has participated in international fusion research projects for many years, these efforts accelerated dramatically after America’s National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore was able to achieve fusion ignition in 2022, demonstrating that it was possible to produce more energy than the laser energy used to drive it under laboratory conditions. (Forbes)
February 12, 2026
Twilio co-founder raises $450 million for Livermore fusion startup
Inertia Enterprises wants to commercialize nuclear fusion. Here’s who’s behind the Bay Area-based startup. (San Francisco Business Times)
February 11, 2026
Fusion Startup Raises $450 Million in Bid to Make Power Using World’s Biggest Lasers
Inertia is pursuing a different path, using powerful lasers to set off fusion reactions. That method was validated for the first time in a 2022 breakthrough at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. (Bloomberg)
February 9, 2026
Can physicist Tammy Ma lead us to abundant clean energy?
The high point of Tammy Ma’s career happened while she was sleeping. Early one December morning in 2022, scientists at the National Ignition Facility in Livermore, California, fired 192 lasers at a peppercorn-size fuel pellet suspended in a giant blue orb. (Washington Post)
February 9, 2026
Research Brings Results in Search for ‘Holy Grail’ of Clean Energy
Progress is being made, thanks to projects such as the multinational ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) in France, and research at U.S. labs including the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in California, which in 2022 became the first site to achieve ignition. (Power Magazine)
February 5, 2026
Pacific Fusion finds a cheaper way to make its fusion reactor work
Fusion power’s biggest question remains unanswered: How do you ensure the cost to start the fusion reaction isn’t higher than the price at which you can sell the power? (TechCrunch)
January 22, 2026
Struggling fusion power company General Fusion to go public via $1B reverse merger
General Fusion revealed its survival plan: It will go public through a reverse merger with a special purpose acquisition company, Spring Valley III, combined with additional investment from institutional investors. (TechCrunch)
January 18, 2026
Nuclear fusion seems hot right now — but how close is fusion power?
Nuclear fusion milestones from Canada's General Fusion and China's EAST reactor have caused a buzz over this potentially limitless, clean energy source becoming a reality amid rising power demand from AI and electrification. Meanwhile, new fusion startups have been popping up around the world and have drawn billions in private investment. (CBC)
January 10, 2026
How to Make Fusion Great Again and Beat China
The U.S. can achieve preeminence in fusion power — if we’re willing to lean into incentives and free enterprise to encourage innovation. (The National Review)
January 9, 2026
Funny Fusion at the Foundry: Science Meets Comedy in a Star-Powered Deep Dive
Video: The LA Times Studios and Monks lounge brought a different kind of spark to CES this year. (Los Angeles Times)
January 1, 2026
New Lab Partnership Looks to Improve Laser-Fusion Efficiency
A new partnership between Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology (ILT) in Germany looks to perfect the amplifiers used in laser-based fusion reactors. (The Independent)
