An aerial view of Orion, Helion Energy’s planned fusion plant being built in Malaga, Wash. (Helion Photo)
Helion Energy announced Tuesday that it’s the first company in the world to receive regulatory licenses for a fusion power facility. The Everett, Wash.-based startup broke ground last year on the planned plant in Central Washington.
The Washington Department of Health (DOH) issued the new permissions, which include a Radioactive Materials License and a Radioactive Air Emissions License. Their issuance indicates Helion has met safety requirements for the plant’s facilities, personnel and safety programs.
Helion worked closely with DOH to secure the licenses, said CEO David Kirtley. Jill Wood, director of DOH’s Office of Radiation, praised the partnership with the company.
“Leading radioactive regulatory oversight for the fusion industry in Washington state is an honor and is essential to protecting public health while advancing clean energy,” Wood added.
Helion is one of more than 40 companies worldwide racing to replicate the reactions that power the sun, aiming to produce clean, abundant energy from fusion on Earth — and it hopes to be the first to succeed. Three years ago, the startup signed a deal with Microsoft to begin supplying electricity by 2028 to power one of the tech company’s data centers.
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The facilities will sit near each other in Malaga, Wash. Helion’s Orion plant aims to produce 50 megawatts of power. The company recently raised $463 million in new funding, bringing its total investments to $1.5 billion.
So far, no company or academic effort has produced more energy from a fusion system than it takes to create the reactions, though both have notched important milestones toward that goal. Skeptics believe it will take many years before anyone cracks fusion power, and some wonder whether the energy source will ever be cost-competitive.
Even so, the sector and its regulations keep evolving in hopes that someone hits the fusion target. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission determined in 2023 that fusion technology is more akin to particle accelerators and hospital equipment than to traditional nuclear fission reactors, and decided it should be regulated by DOH rather than treated like a fission plant.
Washington state lawmakers also passed House Bill 1924 and House Bill 1018 to further clarify fusion’s status as a clean energy source and to establish permitting rules.
