Bill Gates-backed fusion startup begins licensing for futuristic reactor in Tennessee

Why it matters: The next chapter of the United States' fusion effort began quietly last month when Type One Energy, a startup backed by Bill Gates, submitted its first construction license application. The filing paves the way for the construction of a stellarator experimental reactor.

For six decades, the Bull Run Fossil Plant in Claxton, Tennessee, powered a region on fossil fuel. Last year, the plant was decommissioned, collapsing the plant's twin smokestacks in a controlled demolition. Their fall didn't just erase a landmark from the Tennessee skyline; it symbolized the state's newly emerging role in high-tech energy innovation. Popular Mechanics reports that the site may soon host the complex magnetic coils of Infinity One – a nuclear reactor designed to confine plasma at temperatures of up to 100 million degrees Celsius.

Type One Energy's design takes a sharp turn from the tokamak reactors more familiar to ...