Why Canada could be a leader in nuclear fusion

One founder explains how we can leverage the country’s natural advantages to capture more of the value chain in this sector.

Nuclear fusion is looking pretty hot these days. It’s the sun’s signature move, a reaction that involves smushing two atoms together to make a single, heftier atom, releasing massive amounts of energy in the process. As a power source, it has the potential for astronomical output with little to no environmental footprint. The trick is harnessing that reaction for day-to-day use: basically, how do you corral and contain a bunch of mini-suns on Earth? The answer may be hovering just within reach.

This past summer, MIT researchers published a paper outlining the conditions that would make nuclear fusion commercially viable. Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a Massachusetts-based company spun out of MIT research and backed by Bill Gates, recently committed to buy upwards of 10,000 kilometres’ worth of specialized superconducting tape to contain the high-temperature reactions in its planned power stations. Last month, Japanese firm Helical Fusion shared that it plans to initialize power-on tests at its pilot reactor in 2027. And here in Toronto, Daedal Systems, a startup that specializes in the infrastructure required to keep tabs on the plasma used in fusion reactors, recently announced that it has secured $5.7 million in pre-seed funding to develop its technology.

As Daedal founder and CEO Henry Gould explains, the promise of nuclear fusion is vast: “Suddenly, there’s fuel for millions of years, independent of global fuel supply chains,” he says. “There’s no greenhouse gasses, no long-lived radioactive waste, no chain reaction that can lead to a meltdown.” For at least the past century, scientists have been trying to figure out how to leverage this tremendous opportunity. They hit a milestone in 2022, when a team at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory generated net energy from a plasma fusion experiment.

Gould, who previously worked at General Fusion, the Vancouver-based company that became the first publicly traded company in this sector last July, says obtaining precise plasma-related data can be a major challenge for prospective developers. To achieve fusion conditions, the gas (aka plasma) in a hypothetical power plant would need to be heated to somewhere around 100 million degrees. While temperatures in today’s prototypes are maybe a tenth of that, getting accurate measurements is extremely complicated, he says, involving a range of physics-based operations, from assessing how the plasma particles diffuse laser light to gauging the magnetic field. Daedal’s purview lies in this diagnostic space. The company is designing modular systems that can be used by fusion reactor developers to determine operating and safety parameters during the R&D phase; the plan, Gould says, is to offer “measurement as a service” to provide customers with all the diagnostic data they need for comprehensive understanding in a variety of scenarios.

As Daedal’s big raise suggests, the field is approaching an inflection point. “It’s a sign of the maturing asset class of fusion,” says Gould, noting that both Commonwealth Fusion Systems and China’s BEST reactor are projected to turn on in the coming years. “If the Wright brothers’ moment was in 2022, it’s like the first commercial jet is coming in 2028.” What’s critical, he says, is recognizing that Canada has a major competitive advantage in this sector. CANDU reactors naturally produce tritium, which happens to be essential for nuclear fusion. “The question is, are we just gonna supply fuel?” Gould says. “Or are we going to leverage this advantage, be ambitious and capture more of the value chain in the industry?”

Photo courtesy of Daedal Systems