Building the Next Generation of Z Machines

In the bizarro relay marathon that is the fusion race, the baton is firmly in the hands of the startups. The outcome, to be sure, is still uncertain, but the question isn’t whether humanity will achieve commercial fusion, but which companies will, with which approaches, when?

Fusion, many believe, will be one of humanity’s greatest triumphs: we will be able to generate energy in the same way that stars do, right on earth. And in this episode, Packy and Julia talk to some of the people who are most likely to make it happen.

They'll answer the question of “Why now?” for fusion, and for startups in particular, dive into their business models and the economics of a fusion plant, and discuss what a rollout of fusion across the globe might look like.

Thank you to this episode’s guests: David Kirtley, Sehila Gonzalez, Clay Dumas, JC Btaiche, Francesco Sciortino, Clea Kolster, Ryan Umstattd, Derek Sutherland, and Ian Hogarth.

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A huge thank you to our presenting sponsors for Season 1:

Range Fund Holdings: Visit https://www.rangeetfs.com or contact your financial advisor to learn more about the Range Nuclear Renaissance ETF and start investing in the future of energy.

Secureframe: Get 10% off your first year of Secureframe: https://secureframe.com/packy

Pilot.com: Get 20% off your accounting bill for the first 6 months, go to https://pilot.com/packy

Clean Air Task Force https://www.catf.us/

For the full list of resources referenced in this show: https://ageofmiraclesss.addpotion.com/

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Follow our hosts:

Packy McCormick on Twitter and LinkedIn

Julia DeWahl on Twitter and LinkedIn

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Timestamps:

(00:00) The fusion race

(04:54) Why now? What changed?

(10:28) Commonwealth

(13:21) Fuse Energy

(23:35) Proxima Fusion

(31:10) Zap Energy

(39:09) Helion Energy

(52:30) The unit economics of a fusion plant

(1:01:24) Fusion commercial rollout

(1:05:03) Recap

This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts, newsletters, and more, covering technology, business, and culture — all from the perspective of industry insiders and experts. We’re launching new shows every week, and we’re looking for industry-leading sponsors — if you think that might be you and your company, email us at erik@turpentine.co.

Credits: Nancy Xu produced this season of Age of Miracles. Audio editor: Justin Golden. Video editor: Nancy Xu. Executive producers: Amelia Salyers, Packy McCormick, and Erik Torenberg.