Avalanche Thinks The Fusion Power Industry Should Think Smaller
Small fusion reactor breakthrough accelerates clean energy timeline with rapid iteration and compact design.
Matilda
Avalanche Thinks The Fusion Power Industry Should Think Smaller
Small Fusion Reactor Could Unlock Faster Path to Clean Energy What if the key to unlocking fusion power isn't building bigger reactors—but smaller ones? Avalanche Energy is betting that compact, desktop-scale fusion devices can iterate faster, cost less, and reach commercial viability years ahead of stadium-sized projects. Their approach uses high-voltage electric currents instead of massive magnets or lasers to compress plasma, challenging fusion's "bigger is better" orthodoxy. Credit: Avalanche Energy For decades, fusion research followed a single mantra: go big or go home. Projects like ITER span buildings and cost billions, with timelines stretching decades. But physics doesn't care about scale—only about achieving the precise conditions where hydrogen atoms fuse and release net energy. Avalanche's contrarian thesis flips the script: by shrinking the reactor to something that fits on a lab bench, engineers can run dozens of experiments weekly instead of wait…
