A Colorado-based fusion energy company said the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) has approved the company’s preconceptual technical design for its commercial fusion power plant.

Xcimer Energy on June 10 said the DOE also supports the group’s development roadmap for Athena, which is the reference architecture for what the Denver-headquartered company said would be its fleet of fusion power plants. Xcimer is among several U.S. and global groups working to commercialize fusion energy. Xcimer called the DOE approval a milestone for its efforts, and in a news release wrote that it “positions Xcimer among the front-runners to commercialize fusion energy and marks one of the industry’s most comprehensive government reviews of a privately developed fusion plant architecture.”

The company on Wednesday wrote that the DOE’s acceptance “of both the design and roadmap also reflects continued progress under the DOE’s Fusion Milestone Development Program and validates Xcimer’s roadmap for translating laboratory fusion breakthroughs into a commercially deployable energy system.” The DOE on June 9 released what the agency called the “finalized” Fusion Science & Technology Roadmap, a national strategy “to accelerate the development and commercialization of fusion energy on the most rapid, responsible timeline in history.”

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