Acceleron Fusion, a pioneer in muon-catalyzed fusion energy, has closed a $24 million Series A funding round.
Acceleron is paving a path to plasma-free, sub-1000-degree fusion. It's cooler, cheaper, higher-energy gain fusion that stands to turn the industry on its head," said Dr. Clea Kolster, Partner and Head of Science at Lowercarbon Capital.
Acceleron is developing an intense, high-efficiency muon source to produce beams of muons using significantly less energy than current facilities, and a high-density fusion cell to allow each of these muons to catalyze larger numbers of fusion reactions. The company is building on decades of previous work in muon production and muon-catalyzed fusion by university and national lab researchers – and leveraging recent advances in materials science, computer simulation, and machine learning to develop the technology to the level of efficiency needed for energy production.
In October, Acceleron achieved a significant technical milestone by running its machine with highly compressed deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel, capturing data on 28 hours of continuous fusion, after more than 100 hours of testing with deuterium.
Muon-catalyzed fusion has the potential to solve this challenge, and open the door for fusion power plants that are smaller, and capable of operating at a levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) estimated at $0.025/kWh—significantly cheaper than natural gas.
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."
--Philip K. Dick
The crux is the muon generator energy requirements. Too bad this article doesn't delve into anything about how they expect to improve that efficiency or by how much.