Commonwealth Fusion files formal zoning request for power plant in Chesterfield

A rendering of the Commonwealth Fusion Systems nuclear fusion plant proposed to be built in Chesterfield. The company recently filed a request for zoning approval of the project. (BizSense file)

A massive and potentially historic nuclear fusion energy project in Chesterfield is kicking off the process of securing local zoning approval.

Massachusetts-based Commonwealth Fusion Systems recently filed for a conditional-use permit needed for the multibillion-dollar power plant it wants to build on a 94-acre property at 1201 Battery Brooke Parkway.

CFS’s goal is for the Chesterfield project to be the first commercial nuclear fusion plant in the world, and the project is currently anticipated to break ground in the late 2020s, CFS spokeswoman Christine Dunn said in an email Friday.

The zoning application was received by the county last week. The request is slated to be reviewed by the Planning Commission before a final vote by the Board of Supervisors.

Ann Neil Cosby of law firm GreeneHurlocker is representing CFS in the zoning approval process, and Timmons Group is the project’s engineer, according to the application materials.

In addition to a conditional-use permit from Chesterfield, the project also needs state and federal approvals.

The 400-megawatt plant, which is known as ARC and is expected to generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of about 150,000 homes, would be built on land owned by Dominion Energy. Dunn said that CFS has signed an option-to-lease agreement for the site.

The plant is anticipated to be operational in the early 2030s with about 150 full-time employees when it opens.

A map of the property where Commonwealth Fusion Systems intends to build its 400-megawatt nuclear fusion plant in Chesterfield. (County documents)

The formal zoning request follows the startup’s March announcement that it had started the assembly of the SPARC, its prototype fusion machine, with the installation of a 75-ton, stainless steel base for the device. The machine is taking shape at the company’s campus in Devens, Massachusetts.

The SPARC is a machine called a tokamak, which is a donut-shaped device that uses magnetic fields to create plasma particles hot enough to fuse together, creating the conditions necessary for nuclear fusion. The company’s tokamak is intended to generate net fusion power, and its success would be a step closer to CFS’s ultimate goal of an full-on fusion plant in Chesterfield.

Dunn said last week that the SPARC was “60 percent complete,” and that CFS expects it will start to produce plasma next year.

CFS has previously shared that it plans to sell the Chesterfield plant’s power to large commercial and industrial customers. The fusion plant would connect to the electrical grid and CFS would sell power through PJM, a regional power transmission organization that runs an electrical power market in 13 states, including Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

Nuclear fusion is pitched as a renewable clean energy solution because it does not result in long-lived, highly radioactive waste associated with the operation of nuclear fission plants and doesn’t create pollution. It involves the collision and fusion of atomic nuclei, and the reaction that takes place is how the sun generates energy.

The re-creation of the process at a commercial scale with manmade technology has been the subject of research for decades, and CFS and other companies around the world are in a race to be the first to the finish line.

CFS refers to itself as the world’s largest private fusion company. It was founded in 2018 when it was spun out of MIT as a business venture to commercialize fusion power. The company says it has more than 1,000 employees and has raised more than $2 billion from investors since it was founded.

CFS announced the Chesterfield project late last year, and during the announcement event Gov. Glenn Youngkin described the plant as a “multi-billion-dollar” project. The company declined to share a cost estimate for the project last week, saying that the project’s design and development plans were still being finalized.

Earlier this month, Axios reported that CFS has raised more than $1 billion in an ongoing capital raise set to close in the summer, and that the funding is earmarked for the Chesterfield project.

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