Commonwealth Fusion publishes ARC validation papers, pursues grid hookup

Commonwealth Fusion Systems said a global team of scientists has published five peer-reviewed papers in a special issue of the Journal of Plasma Physics validating the physics of ARC, its planned first commercial-scale fusion power plant, building on lessons from its SPARC demonstration tokamak. The Gates- and Nvidia-backed company, which has raised nearly $3 billion, is targeting the early 2030s to feed about 400 megawatts onto the grid from its ARC plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia - enough to power roughly 280,000 homes - and has begun the interconnection process. Some outside researchers cautioned that data from an operating reactor is still needed to confirm the predictions.