Realta Fusion powers a bulb straight from its reactor
Realta Fusion has demonstrated direct energy conversion (DEC) on a commercial fusion machine for the first time, drawing several amps at ~100 volts from its WHAM reactor — enough to power a handful of light bulbs. DEC skips the traditional steam turbine cycle and harvests electricity directly from charged particles, with theoretical efficiency above 90% versus ~33% for steam turbines. The test was conducted on 19 June using the WHAM experimental machine co-operated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Importantly, WHAM does not yet burn deuterium-tritium fuel, so this is a proof-of-concept for the hardware, not net electricity from fusion. Realta plans first commercial reactors in the mid-2030s, where DEC could reduce electricity costs by 10–20%. The company is one of eight firms in the US DOE's flagship fusion programme and raised $36M in a Series A last year.