Developing Muon Catalyzed Fusion as a New Source of Clean Energy
Acceleron is developing an intense, high-efficiency muon source to produce beams of muons using significantly less energy than current facilities, and a high-density fusion cell to allow each of these muons to catalyze larger numbers of fusion reactions.
Fusion is clean, safe, abundant energy -- to help reverse climate change, enhance energy security, and power the future.
Acceleron Fusion Electrical Engineer Musheera Khandaker prepares our high-density fusion cell for a test run.
We are pioneering a new approach to fusion power.
We are developing a high-efficiency muon source engineered to significantly reduce energy cost per muon.
Our high-density fusion cell maximizes the number of fusion reactions that each muon can catalyze.
Recent advances in accelerator technology, high-strength materials, and computer simulation have significantly improved the feasibility of muon-catalyzed fusion energy.
We have collected data on more than 100 hours of continuous fusion in our machine.
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Muon catalyzed fusion is well-established science
Nobel prize winner and Manhattan project alumnus Luis Alvarez discovered muon catalyzed fusion in the 1950s, which was studied with renewed interest in the ’70s and ’80s.
Muon catalyzed fusion involves replacing electrons with muons, which are subatomic particles that are similar to electrons—but about 200 times heavier. Bombarding fusion fuel with a beam of muons, which replace electrons in the fuel’s atoms, sidesteps the need for plasma and vastly reduces the temperature required to sustain fusion.
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Muon catalyzed fusion was intensively studied as basic science during the 1970s and 1980s. (Photo: Paul Scherrer Institute)
The big challenge in fusion is getting more energy out than in
Fusion (of all kinds) has been demonstrated many times - but there are no fusion power plants - yet.
The technical challenge before all of us in fusion is to reduce the energy used to bring the fuel to fusion conditions, while increasing the energy output from the fusion, so that net energy can be produced.
Muon catalyzed fusion has many advantages
The fuel will be at a temperature of 500 - 1000 C, rather than 100,000,000 C, making it possible to contain it using materials, rather than using magnetic or inertial confinement.
Muon catalyzed fusion could be used to build small (100 MW) power plants. There are a large number of fossil-fuel based power plants that could be converted to fusion plants once the technology is ready.
Part of the Acceleron Fusion engineering team, onsite at the High Intensity Proton Accelerator facility at the Paul Scherrer Institute in September 2024, setting up our muon catalyzed fusion machine for test runs with highly compressed deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel.
What’s next
Run a series of tests to prove out each aspect of the technology, working with leading physicists at the Paul Scherrer Institute, Fermilab, Oak Ridge National Lab, and Argonne National Lab.
Build a full-scale prototype, including a muon source and fusion cell, to demonstrate fusion energy gain.
Begin construction of a pilot plant.
We are hiring
Open Jobs >We recently closed a Series A funding round and are located in Cambridge, MA.
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