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Private fusion company picks Albuquerque for $1 billion demonstration campus; seeks state partnership
Summary
Pacific Fusion announced plans to site a research and manufacturing campus in Albuquerque (Mesa Del Sol) to demonstrate net facility gain by 2030, hire dozens of staff immediately and begin component manufacturing in Los Lunas. Company representatives and fusion supply‑chain startups urged state support for workforce development, streamlined permitting and research user facilities.
A private fusion developer told the Water & Natural Resources Committee it will locate a research and manufacturing campus in the Albuquerque area and seeks state partnership to accelerate a domestic fusion supply chain.
Pacific Fusion said the Mesa Del Sol site will host a billion‑dollar demonstration program aimed at showing a fusion system can produce more usable energy than the energy input to the complete facility — a milestone called net facility gain. The company described a pulsed capacitor approach conceptually similar to Sandia National Laboratories’ Z facility and said it expects to demonstrate net facility gain by 2030 and pursue commercial power plants in the 2030s.
Company officials said water use at the demonstration site would be minimal (sanitary use only, roughly 11,000 gallons per day) and that no long‑lived nuclear waste or fissile materials are part of their approach. They described the regulatory path as state licensing through NMED’s radiation control bureau for tritium handling and other routine materials oversight similar to how hospitals and research labs are regulated.
Representatives of New Mexico supply‑chain startups (Molten Salt Solutions) and venture partners (Up Abundance) outlined opportunities for local manufacturing, lithium isotope work and federal‑lab collaboration. They urged state actions including support for SBIR matching programs, user‑facility access at Los Alamos and Sandia and technical permitting assistance to keep more of the manufacturing and jobs in New Mexico.
Committee members asked about safety, water and power needs. Pacific Fusion said the facility’s electrical draw is modest (about 3.5 MW) and will be secured from the local utility; the company also said there is no potential for a runaway nuclear event with their fusion approach and that state licensing processes will govern radioactive materials and waste handling. Lawmakers sought more details on local hiring plans and waste disposal procedures and were referred to follow‑up briefings with company technical and regulatory staff.
