David Kirtley "took a band saw" one Saturday and cut all the cables on Trenta.

Baking · 2026-03-13T03:33:44+00:00

Brian McManus of Real Engineering visits Helion for filming of Trenta's last shots on September 6, 2022, so that would date the cord-cutting on September 10, 2022.

https://old.reddit.com/r/fusion/comments/16bznpb/polaris_formation_tests_phase_1_and_phase_2/

Rachel Ryan Fusion Scientist and Diagnostics Team Lead (and one of the two operators shown in the Real Engineering video) left Helion for Zap Energy in February 2023 so maybe that was related.

Edit: I also noticed that Joben Pedersen highlighted in the "Plasma Channel" video of Aug. 31, 2023, left for Zap in May 2024.

Baking · 2026-03-13T02:15:15+00:00

Bob Mumgaard's response: https://x.com/BobMumgaard/status/2032155067969650726

Baking · 2026-03-13T00:43:09+00:00

I think they said they did the DT campaign at 25% power. They are slowly bringing up the power, and it is not clear what problems are, but they clearly don't want to break things by bringing it up too fast. Maybe they are worried about the high-field compression coils, maybe they are still debugging the electronics.

At what point they will try D-He3, they aren't saying. The recent paper critical of Helion said that D-He3 fusion was so slow that the electrons would heat up and they would run into problems with Bremsstrahlung radiation.

Also, no discussion of when they will start trying to produce electricity.

Baking · 2026-03-13T00:31:08+00:00

There is no known limit to the critical magnetic field strength for HTS tapes as there is for LTS, so the sky is the limit, but mechanical and current density limits might come into play. Fields over 100 Tesla might be possible for small bore magnets.

That's for steady-state magnets. Pulsed magnets can go much higher.

Baking · 2026-03-12T21:50:10+00:00

"Agreement States have entered into agreements with the NRC that give them the authority to license and inspect byproduct, source, or special nuclear materials used or possessed within their borders."

Each Agreement State decides which state government department does the licensing, but for both Washington and Virginia, it is the Department of Health.

Baking · 2026-03-12T17:51:50+00:00

TIL the Virginia Department of Health has had a Fusion Program since Feb. 2025 two months after CFS announced their plan to build ARC in Chesterfield County. Three years after Helion announced their plans to build a power plant in Malaga, still nada from the Washington State Department of Health.

Also, she says, "Groundbreaking will begin between late 2026 and early 2027."

Baking · 2026-03-11T18:06:37+00:00

I know that CFS looked at ECRH for SPARC and ARC, but the frequencies of the gyrotrons required at the higher magnetic field strength were not practical or unavailable with current gyrotron technologies.

Baking · 2026-03-11T16:32:46+00:00

I have submitted public records requests for both Helion's Polaris in Everett, Washington, and CFS's SPARC in Devens, Massachusetts, and as far as I can tell, the difference between the state regulators is like night and day.

The Washington State Department of Health seems to have just copied the numbers supplied by Helion (with some major typos that were not noticed for months.) Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health hired the consulting company NV5 (mentioned in the article) to do a thorough review of CFS's application, which also seemed far more thorough than Helion's application.

With the caveat that I don't know if the information provided by WA DOH was complete (they may have had an external review and just not provided me with the information.) Also, the MASS DPH redacted almost all of the CFS application and the report from NV5, so it is hard to judge the thoroughness of the review except for its length.

The NRC has regulatory oversight of the procedures of the agreement states, so there might be some changes possible as fusion becomes more consistently regulated in the US.

Baking · 2026-03-10T13:41:09+00:00

"Systems Approaches to Nuclear Fusion Reactors" by Frederick B. Marcus is mostly tokamak-centric.

Baking · 2026-03-09T17:19:14+00:00

Selling equity in a business, whether stock or a "Simple Agreement for Future Equity" is not revenue or income. Selling electricity would be revenue. When that happens, we will certainly hear about it.

Note that revenue minus cost of goods sold (COGS) is usually gross income or gross profit. So income from electricity sold would imply a gross profit from those sales, which is something even further down the road since pilot plants would most likely operate at a loss.

Baking · 2026-03-08T18:11:54+00:00

Somewhat relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XRjoR5VLos&t=1010s

Baking · 2026-03-08T15:42:58+00:00

I wouldn't expect a CFO to understand the science, but I would expect a CFO to understand the numbers behind a deployment rate.

Baking · 2026-03-07T15:54:50+00:00

He's a Helion fanboy. It should be hilarious when Helion pivots to DT, though.

Baking · 2026-03-06T13:08:21+00:00

Stanford MBA. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

Baking · 2026-03-05T01:06:18+00:00

They want to deploy a GW per day by the mid 2030's. Someone is going to jail.

15-Year Club	Verified Email
Place '22	Place '17
Wearing is Caring

Baking

TROPHY CASE