Fusion technology developer Fuse says its new Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) reflects a growing role for commercial fusion companies in supporting the National Nuclear Security Administration’s national security mission.
The agreement establishes a framework for research on next-generation fusion technologies, tritium capabilities, higher neutron yields in pulsed fusion generators and strengthening the domestic pulsed-power industrial base. Initial projects will focus on validating fusion technologies, advancing tritium capabilities, increasing neutron output from pulsed fusion generators and evaluating dense plasma focus systems.
The partnership expands Fuse’s collaborations across the NNSA enterprise, building on existing CRADAs with Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories. NNSS supports NNSA’s Stockpile Stewardship Program through subcritical experiments, high-energy-density physics research and other activities used to assess the U.S. nuclear stockpile without underground nuclear explosive testing.
Speaking with ExchangeMonitor, Fuse Founder and CEO JC Btaiche said the Nevada agreement advances a vision the company has pursued since its founding nearly seven years ago.
“When we started Fuse about seven years ago, the mission was to accelerate the world’s transition to fusion energy,” Btaiche said. “But from the beginning, we believed fusion was also very relevant for national security.”
Studying facilities such as Sandia’s Z Machine and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) convinced the company there was room for commercial partners to help modernize aging infrastructure supporting both fusion research and stockpile stewardship.
“There was no private company working on the next generation beyond NIF and Z,” Btaiche said. “These facilities are two, almost three decades old and in need of significant modernization.”
Btaiche argued that commercial companies can complement government laboratories by building experimental capabilities more quickly outside traditional government acquisition programs. “The NNSA blueprint is already full of new modernization projects that are, on average, a decade behind schedule and maybe 600% over budget,” he said. “We thought, ‘is there room for a private company? Is it possible to accelerate the timeline and make it faster and cheaper?’ We believe the answer is yes.”
The initial focus under the NNSS agreement will be developing tritium-handling capabilities for a commercial fusion facility Fuse plans to operate in New Mexico next year.
“The Nevada National Security Site has decades of safe handling of tritium,” Btaiche said. “We want to work with them to understand how they’ve handled it and make sure we build a safe and reliable tritium handling system so we can operate a commercial facility with the same safety and operational rigor standards as the national labs.”
Daniel Lowe, chief scientist for the Enhanced Capabilities for Subcritical Experiments Mission at NNSS, said in a release emailed to the Monitor last week the partnership combines Fuse’s commercial pulsed-power hardware with the site’s technical expertise. This joint effect can evaluate emerging technologies benefiting both national security missions and the broader fusion community.
Former NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, now a member of Fuse’s advisory board, said the collaboration supports technologies that strengthen U.S. strategic deterrence while advancing long-term fusion energy development.
Btaiche said the agreement also reflects growing confidence within the national laboratory system that commercial fusion companies can deliver meaningful hardware. “I think the national labs are realizing companies are serious,” he said. “We know how to build, and we need to collaborate.”
Among the capabilities Fuse is developing is what Btaiche described as a pulsed 14-MeV neutron source that the company plans to operate with tritium next year. “We just built what we believe is the highest-energy pulsed neutron source,” he said. “The collaboration with Nevada is to get it operational with tritium.”
Btaiche said pulsed neutron sources, flash X-ray systems and combined radiation environments remain in short supply despite growing demand from defense programs. “A lot of people around the U.S. have been salivating for years over pulsed 14-MeV neutrons,” he said.
While emphasizing that certification of the nuclear stockpile remains the responsibility of the national laboratories, Btaiche said commercial companies can expand the experimental infrastructure supporting the Stockpile Stewardship Program.
“The role that we play is augmenting the test capabilities to provide environments that are critical, that are not available today, that are planned to be available in 10 years,” Btaiche said. “We’re shortening that timeline.”
Providing those capabilities sooner, Btaiche argued, could reduce costs while expanding access for both government and commercial users. “Providing those environments years ahead of schedule and at a fraction of the cost is saving taxpayers billions of dollars while bringing pretty critical capabilities online today.”
Btaiche also said greater collaboration between government laboratories and commercial developers could become a strategic advantage for the United States.
“When you think about the race with China, one advantage the U.S. has is the collaboration between the public and private sectors,” Btaiche said. “It becomes a competitive edge.”
Btaiche said Fuse has spent years demonstrating it can deliver operational hardware rather than concepts.
“We had to earn the right,” Btaiche said. “This is a very serious industry. We had to show the complex that we can be trusted in building real hardware. This is not just PowerPoints. We need power generators, not PowerPoints.”
Btaiche argued that fusion energy and national security should not be viewed as separate missions.
“People ask us, ‘is this a defense company or an energy company?'” Btaiche said. “I tell them, ‘Fusion is radiation testing.'”
“For us, from the generators we’re building now for survivability testing to future fusion power plants,” Btaiche continued, “we’re comparing the same things: maximum joules out, dollars per joule and repetition rate. It’s literally the same mission.”
Looking ahead, Btaiche said he expects commercial companies to become increasingly important partners as NNSA modernizes its infrastructure.
“We intend to be to the NNSA what SpaceX has become to NASA,” Btaiche said. “They’re rightfully taking their time to trust us, but we’ve demonstrated that we can build hardware that no one else can, in record time and with strong safety records.”