‘Star Wars’ Lasers and Waterfalls of Molten Salt: How Xcimer plans to make fusion power happen
Conner Galloway and Alexander Valys have followed developments in nuclear fusion research since they were roommates at MIT some 20 years ago. For much of that time, it wasn’t the most exciting pastime: Breakthroughs were few and far between, and commercial fusion remained perpetually on the horizon, always 20 years away from providing inexpensive, inexhaustible, and pollution-free power.
But then in August 2021, the two spotted some news that suggested fusion power was finally within reach. Scientists working on a certain type of nuclear fusion at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) had doubled their previous best result.
Though it went largely unnoticed in the popular press, Galloway and Valys knew it marked a turning point. “That was one of the key moments. It’s like, okay, now’s the time,” Valys told TechCrunch.