TVA issues letter of intent with Type One Energy to build fusion plant at Bull Run
TVA and Type One Energy solidified their collaboration on a 350-megawatt fusion power plant at TVA's former Bull Run Fosil Plant in Clinton.
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is one step closer to diversifying its energy portfolio to include fusion technology, thanks to a letter of intent (LOI) with Type One Energy.
Type One Energy’s “stellarator” fusion technology is currently the only fusion technology to have demonstrated stable, steady-state operation with high efficiency. Now, they’re looking to build the first-ever fusion power plant on the same site as the world-famous Bull Run site in Clinton.
This all started in February of 2024, when Governor Bill Lee announced Type One Energy’s intentions to relocate its headquarters and R&D efforts to Oak Ridge.
President and Chief Executive Officer of Type One Energy, Chris Mowry, said Tennessee made an offer that the company could not refuse.
“We started the process of trying to determine where we were going to plant the flag and build the world’s first fusion power plant,” he said. “We did a national search throughout the course of 2023, and it was really Governor Lee’s nuclear fund that ultimately catalyzed our decision to come here.”
Type One Energy was the very first recipient of the Tennessee Nuclear Energy Fund, receiving about $4.5 million to assist with planning, designing, prototyping, and relocation costs. Since then, the fund has either contracted or is pending contracts with nine other nuclear companies or educational programs.
The news of Type One’s relocation and the media surrounding their decision to relocate to Tennessee also started a domino effect of high-level nuclear, fission, and fusion technologies relocating to the region.
How exactly does one build a fusion power plant?
One way to answer that would be: really smart people, like Chris Mowry.
He explained a bit about fusion technology, which he called the “holy grail of energy.” It is essentially mimicking the limitless free energy of the sun, or “bottling a star,” in many respects. Fusion energy is about building the equivalent of a star on Earth (or at least simulating the thermonuclear process of one).
“People have been working on this for centuries, and what’s exciting today is that we’re crossing this threshold from developing the science to getting in a position to build and operate a fully-functional fusion power plant,” Mowry said.
At this point, Type One Energy has two projects on the docket, Infinity One and Infinity Two.
Infinity One is a planned stellarator fusion prototype reactor that will verify Type One Energy’s fusion physics concepts and is scheduled for construction at the TVA’s retired Bull Run power plant starting in 2026.
In contrast, Infinity Two is the larger, 350-megawatt fusion pilot power plant concept based on the validated Infinity One design.
“We’re going to be hiring hundreds of engineers over the next couple of years as we ramp up our presence here,” Mowry said. “And, especially as we look toward Infinity Two.”
When asked about the timeline, Mowry seemed optimistic, yet realistic about how long some of these processes can take. Even though fusion technologies are not regulated by the same strict set of federal standards as nuclear power plants, they still have to undergo state regulatory compliance.
Right now, it’s looking like deployment of this potential energy source likely won’t be seen until the mid-2030s.
Where is the money coming from?
We know that the state funded $4.5 million to Type One Energy through the Nuclear Energy Fund, and that the company itself committed a capital investment of $223.5 million.
In July of 2024, Type One Energy closed an $82.4 million seed financing round, led by prominent new shareholders such as Centaurus Capital, GD1, and Foxglove, among many others. It also included significant commitments from long-time investors in the industry, which notably includes the co-founder of Breakthrough Energy Ventures, John Arnold.
Why does this matter for the state?
2030 seems far away, but Governor Bill Lee and Don Moul, the President and CEO of TVA, said the early investment is critically important for the preparation of our regional grid.
“Fusion has a significant amount of promise. Some believe that fusion may be the next answer, or the next piece of the answer to America’s ability to be energy independent and energy dominant,” Lee said. “And at the end of the day, this economic development is all about opportunity for Tennesseans. Whenever a company invests here and jobs are created, then opportunity rises for everyone.”
Moul said on the TVA side of things, the power supplier has been focused on diversifying its energy portfolio to better support emerging technologies, demand on the grid, and a corporate request for additional power.
“We see this as a potentially dispatchable source of power generation in the future, once we have a proof of concept,” Moul said. “There’s so much value in having different fuel sources and different qualities of power on the grid. We see this as another potential piece in the puzzle to solve that problem.”
On Friday morning, economic developers, elected officials, and prominent figures in the Oak Ridge energy space toured the Bull Run facility.
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