Weekly: U.S.-Japan Alliance, Bipartisan Tax Credits, and Europe's Industrial Awakening, November 2-7, 2025

(November 2-7, 2025) This week brought transformative developments in international cooperation, domestic policy, and industrial maturation that collectively signal fusion’s accelerating transition from research project to commercial reality. From landmark bilateral agreements to manufacturing incentives and Europe’s fusion industrial showcase, the week demonstrated that fusion deployment is becoming a coordinated global priority.

Historic U.S.-Japan Fusion Cooperation Framework

Technology Prosperity Deal Elevates Fusion to Strategic Priority

On October 28 (announced November 3), the United States and Japan finalized a comprehensive Memorandum of Cooperation regarding the Technology and Prosperity Deal—a landmark bilateral agreement that formally recognizes fusion energy as a strategic industrial and economic imperative for two of the world’s largest economies. [White House] [Fusion Industry Association] [Full MOC Text]

The agreement, signed by White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios and Japanese Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy Onoda Kimi during President Trump’s Asia trip, represents a fundamental elevation of fusion in international technology partnerships. The MOC explicitly states: “Appreciating the potential for fusion technologies to deliver safe, resilient, and abundant energy, the Participants intend to work together to facilitate a world-leading fusion industrial ecosystem.”

Concrete Collaboration Areas Defined

Unlike many high-level agreements that remain aspirational, the U.S.-Japan fusion cooperation framework identifies specific technical collaboration areas:

Supply Chain Development:

Superconducting magnets and high-temperature superconductor (HTS) technologies
High-power components including heating systems and power handling equipment
Materials capable of withstanding extreme fusion conditions

Fuel Cycle and Blanket Systems:

Tritium breeding technologies essential for fuel self-sufficiency
Blanket integration systems that capture fusion energy and generate tritium
Fuel cycle infrastructure for deuterium-tritium fusion reactions

Advanced Modeling and Materials:

Neutronics modeling to predict and optimize neutron behavior in fusion devices
Fusion materials development addressing radiation damage and structural integrity
Computational tools for reactor design and performance prediction

Joint Experimental Facilities: The agreement explicitly leverages Japan’s JT-60SA tokamak—the world’s largest superconducting tokamak—for collaborative research and development, with the stated goal of “supporting the commercial development and deployment of fusion reactors.”

Strategic Context and Implications

The fusion provisions of the Technology Prosperity Deal must be understood within the broader geopolitical context. The agreement follows similar partnerships with the United Kingdom (September 2025) and South Korea (October 2025), establishing a network of allied nations coordinating on critical technologies. The MOC frames fusion cooperation as essential to “strengthen stability in the region” and enhance “bilateral collaboration across cutting-edge science and technologies.”

This week also saw parallel UK-US engagement, with a British Climate and Nature Tech Delegation visiting Silicon Valley to showcase UK fusion capabilities—including pioneering inertial fusion technologies—to California investors and policymakers. The delegation, which included roundtables with CalEPA, GO-Biz, and leading venture capital firms, demonstrates the growing transatlantic coordination on fusion commercialization beyond formal government agreements.

Andrew Holland, CEO of the Fusion Industry Association, emphasized the strategic significance: “This agreement recognizes that fusion is not just a future energy source, but a present-day industrial and economic imperative. By aligning U.S. and Japanese efforts across the supply chain, from magnets to materials to fuel cycles, this partnership will accelerate commercialization timelines for both nations.”

The timing is particularly significant given Japan’s recent political transition. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, confirmed in office October 21, has publicly championed fusion as a strategic national priority alongside AI, semiconductors, and biotechnology. Her administration views fusion development as essential for Japan’s energy security and economic competitiveness, creating a supportive political environment for sustained investment and collaboration.

Bipartisan Legislation Targets Fusion Manufacturing

Fusion Advanced Manufacturing Parity Act Introduced

On November 6, a bipartisan coalition of U.S. lawmakers introduced the Fusion Advanced Manufacturing Parity Act, landmark legislation that would extend federal advanced manufacturing tax credits to fusion energy components and expand the critical minerals list to include fusion-relevant materials. [American Nuclear Society]

Senate sponsors:

Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee
Senator John Curtis (R-UT)

House sponsors:

Representative Carol Miller (R-WV)
Representative Suzan DelBene (D-WA)
Representative Claudia Tenney (R-NY)
Representative Don Beyer (D-VA)

Tax Credit Structure and Eligible Components

The legislation would extend Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credits to domestically manufactured fusion components, offering a 25 percent tax credit for:

Magnetic Confinement Systems:

Superconducting magnets using low-temperature or high-temperature superconductors
Magnet support structures and cryogenic systems
Magnetic field coils and power supplies

Plasma Systems:

Plasma vacuum vessels and chamber components
First-wall materials and plasma-facing components
Divertor systems for heat and particle exhaust

Power and Heating Systems:

High-voltage capacitors and pulsed power systems
Neutral beam injection systems
Radiofrequency and microwave heating equipment
High-energy laser systems for inertial fusion

Fuel Cycle and Breeding:

Tritium breeding blanket systems
Fuel processing and handling equipment
Neutron multiplier components

Supporting Infrastructure:

Advanced diagnostics and control systems
Radiation shielding and remote handling equipment
Balance-of-plant components specific to fusion

Critical Minerals Expansion

Critically, the legislation expands the federal critical minerals list to include materials essential for fusion but currently excluded:

Fusion Fuels:

Deuterium (heavy hydrogen)
Tritium (radioactive hydrogen isotope)
Helium-3 (for advanced fusion cycles)

Structural and Breeding Materials:

Lithium compounds (for tritium breeding)
Tungsten (for plasma-facing components)
Vanadium (for structural alloys)

This minerals designation would unlock additional federal support for domestic mining, processing, and supply chain development, addressing a critical vulnerability in fusion commercialization plans.

Industry and Policy Response

Bob Mumgaard, CEO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, praised the legislation: “These manufacturing incentives will accelerate the development of the American fusion supply chain and create thousands of high-quality jobs. Just as tax credits helped launch the solar and wind industries, this legislation will ensure America leads in fusion manufacturing.”

The Clean Energy and Restoration Equities (CRES) organization emphasized the jobs impact: “Manufacturing superconducting magnets, vacuum vessels, and other fusion components domestically will create high-skilled, high-wage manufacturing jobs across America—from specialty steel production to precision electronics.”

The bipartisan support is particularly noteworthy given the polarized political environment. Senator Cantwell noted: “Fusion energy has the potential to provide abundant, clean baseload power for our growing economy. This legislation ensures American companies and workers lead in manufacturing the technologies that will make fusion a reality.”

The timing aligns with broader calls for substantial federal fusion investment, including the Special Competitive Studies Project Commission’s recommendation for a $10 billion one-time appropriation and the Clean Air Task Force’s emphasis that the DOE’s fusion roadmap must be matched with commensurate resources.

FIA Details $10 Billion Allocation Framework

On November 5, the Fusion Industry Association published a detailed one-page framework explaining exactly how a $10 billion federal fusion investment should be allocated to maximize impact. [FIA Report] The breakdown, grounded in recommendations from the National Academies of Sciences and DOE’s Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC), proposes:

$4.6 billion for Fusion Science & Technology (FS&T) Infrastructure:

Critical research facilities and shared experimental infrastructure
Advanced materials testing and qualification facilities
Tritium fuel cycle development and demonstration
Workforce development and training programs
Computational and modeling capabilities

$5.4 billion for Commercial Deployment and Scaling:

Milestone-based fusion development programs
Public-private partnerships for demonstration plants
Supply chain development and manufacturing scale-up
Regulatory framework development and licensing support
International collaboration infrastructure

The FIA emphasized urgency: “Without new funding and a decisive shift toward technology development and commercial demonstration, the U.S. will lose the fusion race to competitors like China.” With 93% of fusion companies expecting to deliver electricity to the commercial grid within 10-15 years, and electricity demand forecasted to surge due to AI data centers, the FIA argues that substantial federal investment is imperative to maintain U.S. global fusion leadership as other nations announce multi-billion dollar commitments.

Washington Startup Secures DOE Funding for Advanced Plasma-Facing Technology

ExoFusion Receives FIRE Award for Liquid Metal Wall Research

On November 5, ExoFusion—a boutique fusion company based in Bellevue, Washington—announced receipt of funding through the Department of Energy’s Fusion Innovation Research Engine (FIRE) program to study liquid metal walls for future fusion generators. [GeekWire]

The project, led by Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory with ExoFusion co-founder Michael Kotschenreuther spearheading key research initiatives, addresses one of fusion’s most challenging engineering problems: managing the extreme heat and particle fluxes that strike reactor walls.

Liquid Metal Walls: A Revolutionary Approach

Traditional fusion reactor designs use solid materials—typically tungsten or carbon-based composites—for plasma-facing surfaces. However, these materials face severe challenges:

Erosion: Constant bombardment by high-energy particles gradually erodes solid surfaces
Neutron damage: Intense neutron radiation creates structural defects and embrittlement
Heat loads: Localized heating can reach 10-20 megawatts per square meter
Lifetime limitations: Solid components require frequent replacement, driving maintenance costs

Liquid metal walls offer potential revolutionary advantages:

Self-Healing: Liquid surfaces naturally replenish themselves, eliminating erosion concerns and potentially enabling continuous operation without component replacement.

Heat Distribution: Flowing liquid metal can transport heat away from the plasma-facing surface more effectively than solid materials, enabling higher plasma performance.

Reduced Activation: Certain liquid metals (like lithium or tin) may have lower long-term radioactive activation compared to structural materials, simplifying decommissioning.

Tritium Breeding: Lithium-based liquid walls could serve dual purposes—protecting the reactor structure while simultaneously breeding tritium fuel from neutron interactions.

Technical Challenges and Research Focus

ExoFusion’s FIRE-funded research will address critical technical challenges including:

Maintaining liquid metal flow stability in strong magnetic fields
Preventing liquid metal from entering the plasma core
Managing chemical reactions and material compatibility
Demonstrating long-term reliability and safety

Michael Kotschenreuther, who brings extensive experience from the University of Texas at Austin’s fusion research program, emphasized the breakthrough potential: “Liquid metal walls could fundamentally change the economics of fusion by dramatically extending component lifetimes and reducing maintenance downtime. This FIRE award allows us to move from theory to experimental validation.”

Founded in 2022, ExoFusion has secured approximately $3 million in grants from DOE programs including INFUSE (Innovation Network for Fusion Energy) and ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy), positioning the company within the growing Pacific Northwest fusion hub alongside Avalanche Energy, Zap Energy, and Helion Energy.

The FIRE program award represents DOE’s strategic investment in high-risk, high-reward fusion technologies that could leapfrog incremental improvements and enable fundamentally better reactor designs.

Europe’s Fusion Industrial Awakening

World Nuclear Exhibition Showcases Maturing Supply Chain

From November 4-6, the World Nuclear Exhibition (WNE) in Paris brought together more than 25,000 participants and over 850 exhibitors from 88 countries at Paris Nord Villepinte—making it the world’s largest civil nuclear exhibition. [IAEA] [WNE]

What distinguished WNE 2025 for fusion observers was the prominent participation of over 20 member companies of the European Fusion Association (EFA), exhibiting not as academic researchers but as industrial players offering real products, services, and project delivery capabilities. This represents a fundamental transition: fusion is moving from conference presentations to commercial exhibitions.

ITER Panel: From Breakthroughs to Industry

On November 5, ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi participated in a major main-stage panel titled “From Breakthroughs to Industry: Delivering Fusion Energy at Global Scale,” alongside representatives from:

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – International regulatory and cooperation framework
Westinghouse Electric Company – Nuclear engineering and major ITER component supplier
RWE Nuclear GmbH – European utility perspective on fusion deployment
Ansaldo Nucleare – Nuclear systems integration and manufacturing
European Commission Directorate-General for Energy – EU fusion policy and funding

The panel addressed critical questions about supply chain readiness, workforce development, large-scale investment requirements, and public-private partnerships needed to transition fusion from demonstration to deployment. Barabaschi emphasized: “The technologies emerging from fusion—advanced magnets, radiation-resistant materials, and digital control systems—are creating new markets and generating early revenue streams even before commercial fusion plants operate.”

European Fusion Association Industrial Ecosystem

The EFA member companies present at WNE spanned the full fusion value chain, demonstrating the emergence of a coordinated industrial ecosystem:

Engineering and Integration:

Assystem (systems engineering and project management)
IDOM Consulting, Engineering, Architecture (multidisciplinary engineering)
Egis (infrastructure and construction management)

Advanced Manufacturing:

ARIAL Industries (precision components and advanced manufacturing)
Technetics Group (sealing systems and precision-engineered components)

Nuclear Expertise Transitioning to Fusion:

Ansaldo Nucleare (reactor systems and major component manufacturing)
NUVIA (nuclear services, radiation protection, decommissioning)

Specialized Technologies:

Bertin Technologies (instrumentation and measurement systems)
Wälischmiller Engineering GmbH (remote handling and robotics)

Project Developers:

newcleo (advanced reactor designs)
Gauss Fusion (stellarator development)
General Fusion (magnetized target fusion)

What This Industrial Participation Signals

The presence of major engineering firms, nuclear vendors, and systems integrators at WNE—dedicating booth space, personnel, and marketing resources to fusion—represents a calculated bet on near-term commercial opportunities. These companies are not engaging in speculative R&D; they are positioning for contracts, partnerships, and project delivery.

Several factors drive this industrial mobilization:

ITER Supply Contracts: ITER’s procurement pipeline represents billions of euros in contracts for components, systems, and services, creating immediate business opportunities while building fusion-specific capabilities.

National Demonstration Programs: Multiple European nations are funding domestic fusion demonstration programs (UK’s STEP, Germany’s three-plant strategy, France’s partnership approach), creating parallel procurement opportunities.

Private Fusion Companies: The maturation of private fusion ventures backed by billions in private capital is generating demand for specialized components and engineering services beyond traditional government-funded programs.

Dual-Use Technologies: Many fusion technologies—superconducting magnets, advanced materials, precision robotics, cryogenic systems—have applications in particle physics, medical devices, quantum computing, and other high-value sectors, providing revenue diversification.

The WNE showcase demonstrates that Europe is organizing its fusion industrial base systematically, with the European Fusion Association—founded just last year—already coordinating strategy across engineering firms, technology providers, and systems integrators. This coordinated approach contrasts with more fragmented industrial ecosystems in other regions and may provide Europe with competitive advantages in fusion deployment timelines and cost structures.

Convergence: Policy, Technology, and Industrial Readiness

This week’s developments—the U.S.-Japan strategic partnership, bipartisan manufacturing tax credits, DOE support for revolutionary plasma-facing technologies, and Europe’s industrial mobilization—paint a comprehensive picture of fusion’s maturation across multiple dimensions simultaneously.

International Coordination

The U.S.-Japan Technology Prosperity Deal represents more than bilateral cooperation; it establishes a model for allied nations to align fusion development efforts, share risks, coordinate investments, and harmonize regulatory approaches. The explicit focus on supply chains, fuel cycles, materials, and shared experimental facilities creates pathways for accelerated development that would be impossible for individual nations pursuing isolated programs.

Japan’s JT-60SA tokamak, explicitly designated in the MOC as a platform for joint R&D, provides U.S. researchers with access to the world’s largest superconducting tokamak without bearing full development costs. Simultaneously, Japanese researchers benefit from U.S. expertise in plasma control, diagnostics, and computational modeling. This symbiotic relationship exemplifies how international collaboration can accelerate progress for all participants.

Domestic Policy Support

The Fusion Advanced Manufacturing Parity Act addresses a critical gap in fusion policy: manufacturing incentives. While research funding (ARPA-E, INFUSE, FIRE) has supported technology development, manufacturing at commercial scale requires different policy tools. The 25 percent production tax credit provides compelling economics for companies to establish domestic manufacturing capabilities, creating jobs and supply chain resilience while positioning U.S. firms for global fusion markets.

The critical minerals designation is equally strategic. Recognizing deuterium, tritium, helium-3, lithium, tungsten, and vanadium as critical materials unlocks federal support for domestic supply chain development, reducing dependence on foreign sources for materials essential to fusion deployment.

The bipartisan nature of the legislation—spanning progressive Democrats and conservative Republicans—suggests fusion has achieved rare political consensus as a technology supporting energy security, economic competitiveness, and environmental goals simultaneously.

Breakthrough Technologies

ExoFusion’s liquid metal wall research, supported by DOE FIRE funding, exemplifies the continued pursuit of revolutionary approaches alongside incremental improvements. While mainstream fusion programs focus on optimizing known technologies, the FIRE program invests in high-risk concepts that could dramatically improve fusion economics if successful.

Liquid metal walls represent the kind of breakthrough that could transition fusion from “technically feasible but economically marginal” to “clearly superior to alternatives.” The potential for self-healing surfaces, extended component lifetimes, and dual-purpose tritium breeding could reduce capital costs, improve availability factors, and enhance overall economics—critical factors for commercial deployment at scale.

Industrial Mobilization

Europe’s fusion industrial showcase at WNE demonstrates that major engineering firms and nuclear vendors now view fusion as a near-term business opportunity worthy of strategic investment. The participation of companies like Assystem, Ansaldo Nucleare, and Westinghouse—organizations with track records delivering large-scale complex projects—brings project management expertise, supply chain capabilities, and quality assurance processes that research institutions alone cannot provide.

The emergence of the European Fusion Association as a coordinating body just one year after its founding reflects rapid industrial organization. Unlike previous eras where fusion companies competed in isolation, the EFA facilitates coordination on standards, regulatory approaches, workforce development, and supply chain optimization—collective action problems that individual companies cannot solve alone.

Looking Ahead

The convergence of strategic international partnerships, supportive domestic policy, breakthrough technology development, and industrial mobilization creates unprecedented momentum for fusion commercialization. What distinguishes this moment from previous waves of fusion optimism is the breadth and depth of simultaneous progress:

Not just research breakthroughs, but industrial readiness
Not just national programs, but coordinated international partnerships
Not just government funding, but private capital at scale
Not just incremental improvements, but revolutionary approaches
Not just laboratory demonstrations, but commercial timelines with contractual obligations

The mid-2030s timeline for commercial fusion, once dismissed as overly optimistic, now appears increasingly credible as technical capabilities, policy support, international cooperation, and industrial infrastructure align. The week of November 2-7, 2025, may be remembered as the moment when fusion transitioned definitively from research project to industrial reality.

Major Sources:

From Lab to Grid: U.S.-Japan Alliance, Bipartisan Tax Credits, and Europe’s Industrial Awakening, November 2-7, 2025