How a fusion start-up could help maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal

Scientific American · Sarah Scoles · 2026-10-20 10:00 UTC

The U.S. hasn’t detonated a nuclear weapon since 1992. Now a fusion start-up whose co-founders include former national lab scientists could help conduct experiments that make sure the stockpile works

A new Albuquerque mixed-use neighborhood called Mesa del Sol, near the airport, is still under construction. But it’s coming together: earth-toned homes have popped up; rock-based snake sculptures line the medians. There’s also a road called Pacific Fusion Drive—and it now leads toward a construction site where a company of the same name broke ground on a $1-billion fusion research and manufacturing campus on a hot, dusty August day.

The bigwigs in attendance—New Mexico’s governor and senators, Albuquerque’s mayor, and leaders from the nuclear establishment, among others—escaped the heat and dust inside a fancy air-conditioned tent with a carpeted floor. They spent the morning talking about what Pacific Fusion could do for New Mexico, the clean-energy sector and nuclear-weapons research.

Early in the day’s events, National Nuclear Security Administration head Brandon Williams stepped up to the mic, two pieces of heavy machinery holding a U.S. flag behind him. “I represent the NNSA,” he said. “We’re about 70 percent of the budget of the Department of Energy. Let me just tell you, the NNSA is not sending anybody to Mars, and we’re not reading your text messages.” It was not to be confused, in other words, with NASA or the National Security Agency.

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