Unlocking affordable and scalable fusion energy
We combine lower-cost high-temperature superconducting magnets with a more stable negative triangularity plasma,
accelerating the path to commercial fusion.
Mission: Affordable and Scalable Fusion
Energy demand is rising faster than at any point in a generation. Fusion will deliver clean, firm energy, but it will only reach the grid at the scale required if it is both cost‑competitive and rapidly deployable. Hephaestus exists to meet that challenge.
Next-Generation Fusion Energy
Hephaestus is tackling two of the largest costs holding fusion back: magnets and plasma stability.
- HTS Magnet Cost
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The challenge
High-temperature superconducting (HTS) conductor – material that carries current without resistance, so magnets can be both compact and powerful – is the single largest capital cost in a magnetic-confinement fusion plant. Today’s standard conductor, rare-earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) tape, is expensive, difficult to manufacture, and global production cannot currently supply even one reactor a year. Demand is set to continue to outgrow supply.
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Our solution
Supernova HTS, a rare-earth-free superconductor designed to match REBCO’s performance at a fraction of the cost, using scalable, industry-proven manufacturing techniques.
- Plasma Performance Cost
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The challenge
Most tokamaks – doughnut-shaped reactors that hold plasma in place with magnetic fields – use a plasma shape that needs significant heating power to reach fusion conditions. That regime triggers violent plasma bursts called edge-localised modes (ELMs). These bursts repeatedly hit reactor surfaces with heat loads 20x more intense than a spacecraft faces on re-entry, wearing them out and shortening the plant’s life.
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Our solution
Negative triangularity: inverting the plasma’s shape to deliver high-performance confinement without ELMs, a shape modelling has predicted will reach fusion conditions with far less heating power required.
Anvil C: the world’s first commercial negative triangularity fusion power plant
Our commercial power plant design, Anvil C, will combine our Supernova HTS magnets with negative triangularity (NT) physics to deliver fusion power at a cost that can compete on the grid.
- Lower-cost magnets: Supernova is designed to cut the cost of fusion’s most expensive component, with a secure, independent supply chain and scalable manufacturing.
- Better confinement: Negative triangularity holds heat in the plasma using a fraction of the usual heating power.
- Steady power handling: Without ELMs, exhaust handling is less demanding and easier to manage.
New superconductors, discovered with AI and manufactured in-house
Our flagship material, Supernova™, is designed to rapidly raise annual production potential 10x in comparison to today’s REBCO supply. We identify compounds that perform in the very high magnetic fields that fusion needs, then take the strongest candidates from prediction to finished wire by bringing discovery, testing, manufacturing and assembly together in-house.
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Materials Discovered with AI
Our discovery tool, accelerated with machine learning, narrows the candidates to a shortlist that our lab then tests. That compresses years of speculative searching into months of directed discovery.
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Manufactured on well-established equipment lines
Our manufacturing method is already used to make many conductors in long lengths for working magnet systems, so we don’t rely on expensive bespoke equipment to scale.
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Continuous innovation from Lab to Line
Our research line in the UK develops new conductors in small batches, while our first production line in the US will scale that process to full-scale manufacturing.
Naturally Stable Plasma Physics for Scalable Tokamaks
Anvil 0 was our engineering pathfinder, Anvil 2 will be our physics demonstrator, and Anvil C will be our first commercial plant. Each stage is designed to demonstrate the commercial advantages of negative triangularity for low-cost stability, high confinement and simpler power handling.
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Plasma Physics Accelerated with AI
Our AI Plasma-Solver, free of inherited assumptions and 10,000x faster than traditional plasma simulations, identified negative triangularity as the most likely candidate for low cost fusion power: naturally ELM-free, with less heating power required, higher confinement and easier power handling.
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Backed by the Academic Literature
Over the last 5 years, a growing body of academic work has reinforced the commercial potential of negative triangularity, after decades of trying to manage ELMs in a conventional positive triangularity regime.
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Roadmap: From Lab to Grid
Anvil 0: our lab-scale negative triangularity tokamak, already complete (2024).
Anvil 2: our NT physics demonstrator, on a secured site, designed to demonstrate energy gain (more fusion energy out than heating energy in) with integrated power handling.
Anvil C: our first commercial power plant, combining our HTS magnets with our NT platform. Delivering power at a competitive cost, and built on a resilient supply chain that can rapidly scale.
Latest from the Lab
Three Cities, One Team, One Mission
Making fusion affordable and scalable.