In Everett, Washington, a doughnut-shaped device quietly operates. Inside, temperatures reach 100 million degrees Celsius, but what excites scientists is not the temperature but the screen showing “360 seconds”—the longest sustained nuclear fusion reaction achieved by a private company to date.
On February 10th, U.S. fusion energy company Helion Energy announced that its seventh-generation “Trent” device has achieved a six-minute sustained nuclear fusion reaction, producing 2.1 megawatts of energy with an input of 1.8 megawatts, achieving a net energy gain (Q>1) for the first time. While this duration is far from commercial application requirements, it represents a qualitative leap from previous record of 0.9 seconds. Helion’s approach differs from mainstream tokamak designs, using a “field-reversed configuration” that could theoretically enable smaller fusion reactors.
This technological breakthrough has ignited fierce competition in capital markets. On the day of the announcement, Helion’s stock rose 180%, and other fusion concept stocks followed suit: Commonwealth Fusion Systems completed a new $800 million financing round, while U.K.-based First Light Fusion saw its stock rise 70%. More notably, traditional energy giants have begun massive moves: Shell announced a $1.5 billion investment to establish a fusion energy fund, while ExxonMobil directly poached 40 scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.
However, the scientific community remains cautious. Dr. Steven Cowley, director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, pointed out that “six minutes of sustained reaction is indeed a milestone, but achieving 24/7 continuous operation is an entirely different challenge.” The bigger obstacle lies in materials science: neutron irradiation from fusion reactions severely damages reactor walls, with current materials lasting only about two years under experimental conditions, far from the decades required for commercial power plants.
This event may accelerate the restructuring of the global energy landscape. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has announced it will increase its investment in fusion energy from the current $600 million to $3 billion, while China’s “Artificial Sun” EAST project has brought forward its next round of experiments. The U.S. Department of Energy is revising its fusion energy commercialization roadmap, potentially bringing the original 2050 target forward to 2040. Analysts at Morgan Stanley estimate that if fusion energy achieves true commercialization, it could erase $12 trillion in market value from traditional fossil fuel assets.
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