Avalanche Bets Small on the Future of Nuclear Fusion
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A new approach to harnessing the power of the stars is emerging, and it’s surprisingly compact. Avalanche, a startup founded by industry veterans, is pursuing nuclear fusion on a “desktop” scale, challenging the conventional wisdom that massive facilities are required to unlock this potentially limitless source of clean energy.
For decades, the promise of fusion – replicating the energy source of the sun – has remained elusive. The core challenge lies in heating and compressing plasma to extreme temperatures and densities long enough for atoms to fuse, releasing vast amounts of energy. But Avalanche co-founder and CEO Robin Langtry believes a smaller, more agile approach is the key to accelerating progress. “We’re using the small size to learn quickly and iterate quickly,” Langtry told TechCrunch.
The fusion industry is known for its complexity. The physics involved is notoriously difficult, requiring cutting-edge materials science and substantial power inputs. Traditional methods, like those employed by Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), utilize enormous magnets to contain plasma in a doughnut-shaped tokamak. Others focus on high-powered lasers to compress fuel pellets. Avalanche, however, takes a different tack.
The company utilizes electric current at extremely high voltages to create an orbital path for plasma particles around an electrode, supplemented by smaller magnets for stability. As the orbit shrinks and the particles accelerate, they collide and fuse. This innovative method has already attracted significant investment. Avalanche recently secured $29 million in a funding round led by R.A. Capital Management, bringing the company’s total funding to $80 million. While a relatively modest sum compared to the hundreds of millions – and even billions – raised by some competitors, it signals growing confidence in Avalanche’s strategy.
From Space Tech to Fusion Energy
Langtry’s experience at Blue Origin, the space exploration company founded by Jeff Bezos, heavily influenced Avalanche’s approach. The company adopted what Langtry describes as a “SpaceX ‘new space’ approach,” prioritizing rapid experimentation and iterative development. “We’ve figured out that you can iterate really quickly, you can learn really quickly, and you can solve some of these challenges,” he explained.
This agility is a direct result of the smaller scale. Avalanche can test modifications to its devices “sometimes twice a week,” a pace that would be impractical and prohibitively expensive with larger, more complex systems. Currently, the company’s reactor measures just nine centimeters in diameter. A new iteration, planned to reach 25 centimeters, is projected to generate approximately 1 megawatt of power. This increase in size, Langtry believes, will significantly improve confinement time – a critical factor in achieving sustained fusion.
“That’s going to give us a significant bump in confinement time, and that’s how we’re actually going to get plasmas that have a chance of being Q>1,” Langtry stated. In fusion terminology, “Q” represents the ratio of power output to power input. A Q value greater than one signifies that the device is producing more energy than it consumes – the long-sought-after “breakeven point.”
A Commercial Testing Ground for the Future
Avalanche is also building a commercial testing facility, FusionWERX, where the company will conduct experiments and rent space to other fusion startups. By 2027, the facility will be licensed to handle tritium, a hydrogen isotope essential for many fusion power plant designs.
While Langtry refrained from committing to a specific timeline for achieving net energy gain, he expressed optimism that Avalanche is on a comparable trajectory to leading competitors like CFS and Helion, backed by Sam Altman. “I think there’s going to be a lot of really exciting things happening in fusion in 2027 to 2029,” he predicted. The race to unlock the potential of fusion is heating up, and Avalanche’s bet on a smaller, faster approach may prove to be a game-changer.
