This is a conversation with Bob Mumgaard and Steve Renter, founders of Commonwealth Fusion Systems in Cambridge, Massachusetts. So these guys spun out of MIT. An incredible, ambitious, company to figure out how to commercialize fusion, and it’s really the first fusion company in the world that has been able to show publicly that they have no new science needed in order to make it work, which is a major milestone.

They also published a series of seven papers a couple of years ago now, showing exactly how they can build a fusion reactor. This is the kind of thing that has been a joke my whole life with physicists saying that fusion is only 20 years away and always will be. That might not be true anymore…

Commonwealth Fusion Systems had a major breakthrough when they figured out how to make a super magnet, using a new kind of super conductor that’s appropriate for the task, and that really changed the game.

Almost everything else they do, the science is the same as it was in 1970.

They make a plasma that floats inside of what is called a “tokamak”, which is a kind of donut shaped toroid that has plasma floating on a magnetic field inside. So all this is like crazy, hard, technical science. None of it would have been possible without decades of government funded research. Multiple governments funding research.

These guys were standing on the shoulders of a lot of giants who came before them. And they are very careful to acknowledge that all the time, which is great. And they’ve been very successful at showing that they can really make fusion happen. Now there’s a lot of engineering work that has to happen between here and there, but know they’re going at it with an extraordinary amount of ambition and they’ve hired a lot of really smart people.

They have probably the best shot at achieving fusion of anything that I have seen.

This would be the biggest upgrade for humans in our lifetime if we get there. And so it’s a very exciting project.

I’m thrilled that I’ve gotten to know these guys a little bit and got to hang out with them their operation that keeps growing.

I hope that you learned something from this conversation with Bob and Steve.

Important Links:

1. Commonwealth Fusion Systems Linkedin page

Bob is the co-founder and CEO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a fusion energy startup company spin-out of MIT. He drives the company’s vision to accelerate the path to commercial fusion energy by managing its strategic partnerships and technical approach. He also believes in the power of technical and organizational innovation to facilitate the breakthroughs needed to combat climate change. The CFS team and Bob are working in collaboration with MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) to realize the holy grail of renewable energy: fusion.

Steve Renter is the Chief Growth Officer at Commonwealth Fusion Systems, designing and building commercial fusion systems to provide limitless, clean energy to the world. Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) has the fastest, lowest cost path to commercial fusion energy.

The ultimate mission is to deploy fusion power plants to meet global decarbonization goals as fast as possible. CFS has assembled a team of leaders in tough tech, fusion science, and manufacturing with a track record of rapid execution. Supported by the world’s leading investors, CFS is uniquely positioned to deliver limitless, clean, fusion power to combat climate change.