Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a start-up company headed by scientists from MIT, is looking to develop a nuclear fusion reactor in Devens on a site spanning 47 acres.
Construction is currently underway on a nuclear fusion research-office complex that is expected to cost $500m. The reactor would imitate the way in which energy is generated by the sun. The company is backed by private investors that include Jeff Bezos, executive chairman of Amazon, and Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft. Banner printing is often used at such sites to inform the public of such important projects. The developer is King Street Properties, based in Boston, and the contractor is B.W. Kennedy & Co. of Arlington.
The first building in the complex is a facility for manufacturing (including that of the magnets for the fusion reactor) and office space for researchers, and will span 164,000 square feet. Plans are underway for a second building that will create the fusion reactor for testing purposes and will span 147,000 square feet. The first building is expected to be completed this fall while the second building will not be finished until 2025.
Should the tests be successful, MIT and Commonwealth Fusion Systems will collaborate on the first commercial fusion reactor in the world, with a pilot power plant to be ready by the beginning of the next decade.
