The race to bring a $1 billion nuclear fusion plant to their city has officials in Livermore eager to make a deal.
Despite no firm commitment from the startup behind the project, Pacific Fusion, the Livermore City Council this past week unanimously approved the company’s plan to develop a 225,500-square-foot facility on a vacant stretch of West Jack London Boulevard.
But Livermore is facing off with two other cities in its bid to secure the project — Alameda and Albuquerque are also trying to lure the Fremont-based company.
The “finalists” are making their pitches for why their city should be Pacific Fusion’s HQ. Alameda is offering VIP treatment, Albuquerque says it has “built the talent,” but the mayor of Livermore says the Tri-Valley city, home to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, shouldn’t be ruled out.
“Work comes to Livermore because it can be done nowhere else on earth,” Mayor John Marchand said this week. “I think if this is going to succeed anywhere, it’s going to be in Livermore.”
Pacific Fusion, a company founded in 2023 and backed by $900 million from venture capital companies, has promised to bring more than 200 engineer, technician and scientist jobs to its new home. The company plans to develop new ways to generate renewable energy, with the goal of becoming one of the first to break ground anywhere on a nuclear fusion plant.
Such a facility is already underway in rural Washington state, where Helion Energy is building the “world’s first nuclear fusion power plant” with an agreement to provide electricity to Microsoft, according to Fox 13 Seattle.
According to Pacific Fusion spokesperson Alex Doniach, the company expects to make a decision sometime later this year, after factoring in “where we can build most quickly and cost effectively” and with “community support and partnerships.” Doniach, who stressed that the facility would not add power to existing electricity grids, said the goal is to produce more energy output than input from a fusion machine by the early 2030s.
“All three cities offer compelling reasons to be the home of this project – for example, proximity to a great pool of talent and to our collaborators at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories. We’re grateful for the thoughtful engagement from all three communities,” Doniach wrote in a statement on Wednesday.
In Livermore, the council voted to set aside a 14-acre plot along West Jack London Boulevard west of the Oaks Business Park; the boulevard would be widened to four lanes and building codes would be adjusted to allow for a 110-foot-high building where the proposed fusion machine would go.
In Alameda, the facility would be built on a 13-acre plot at Alameda Point, on a long-vacant area of the former Naval Air Station, according to a decision by the council earlier this summer.
Alameda Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft said city officials have been working to offer a “white glove” experience to convince Pacific Fusion to open in the city. She pointed to the city’s proximity to public transit and UC Berkeley as main attractions for the company, which would complement other nearby tech manufacturing, energy and innovation companies.
“We just want to roll out the red carpet for them,” Ashcraft said. “They’re a great company and we’d love to have them.”
Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller did not immediately return multiple requests for comment Wednesday. But on social media, Keller called the opportunity “exciting economic development news for Albuquerque!”
“We’ve built the talent, leadership, and environment companies like this need,” he wrote. “This could mean more jobs and long-term investment in our city. We’re ready.”
The proposal was warmly greeted by an enthusiastic Livermore City Council, as well as business leaders and local scientists.
“Approving this project means Livermore could stand at the forefront of developing net-positive fusion energy — a clean, abundant and affordable power source for the world. It builds on the genius of our own national research labs, and cements the Tri-Valley’s role as a global leader of innovation,” said Katie Marcel, CEO of the nonprofit Innovate Tri-Valley Leadership Group.
Alan Burnham, a former scientist for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, noted that the energy company’s goal of creating a commercial nuclear fusion plant is “a hard job.”
“I don’t think anybody up there should be under the illusion that this is a sure thing, to be able to get fusion energy this century. I would certainly hope it would be true, and Pacific Fusion has a good chance of doing that,” Burnham said. “I merely say that 100 percent of nothing is nothing. So what we have is the opportunity to have a lot of good-paying jobs that will have a knock-on benefit to the community.”
Resident Greg Scott wasn’t so sure the city would benefit.
“This project is a colossal boondoggle,” Scott told the council Monday. “The chances of generating electricity out of nuclear fusion in the foreseeable future is about like generating electricity out of fairy dust.”
While the three cities wait for Pacific Fusion to make a decision, Livermore Vice Mayor Evan Branning remains “excited” and says the city that has an element named after it — Livermorium — is “ready.”
“Pull the trigger and choose us,” Branning said.