Helical Fusion and MiRESSO Partner to Develop Blanket Technology for Steady-State Fusion Reactors
- naho yoshimura
- Apr 10
- 3 min read
Helical Fusion Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Takaya Taguchi), a company committed to realizing the world’s first steady-state fusion reactor, has entered into a strategic partnership with MiRESSO Co.Ltd. (Head Office: Misawa City, Aomori; CEO: Masaru Nakamichi). The collaboration will focus on the joint evaluation and future supply of beryllium, a key material candidate for the blanket system in commercial steady-state fusion reactors.
MiRESSO Co.Ltd. is the only company in the world with a novel “low-temperature refining technology” capable of producing beryllium—a critical material for fusion, aerospace, and industrial applications—at significantly lower cost and energy consumption.
Significance of the Partnership
Through this partnership, Helical Fusion will integrate its expertise in fusion reactor development with MiRESSO’s deep knowledge of beryllium to advance blanket system development toward the realization of fusion energy. Both startups inherit advanced research from Japan’s leading fusion institutions—Helical Fusion from the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS) and MiRESSO from the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST). Together, they aim to spearhead the global commercialization of fusion energy and foster a new industrial sector originating in Japan.
Importance of Blanket Development
The helical fusion reactor developed by Helical Fusion is based on over 70 years of research from Japan’s fusion science community, including at NIFS in Gifu Prefecture. From the perspectives of plasma physics, reactor engineering, and applied science, most technical challenges for practical implementation have already been overcome. One of the few remaining hurdles is the development of the blanket system.
The blanket plays a crucial role in:
Extracting energy from fusion reactions,
Breeding tritium fuel,
Protecting the reactor components from high-energy neutrons.
Despite its importance, no fusion project worldwide has yet succeeded in implementing a complete blanket system, largely due to its complexity and manufacturing challenges.
The Role of Beryllium in Blanket Systems
Fusion reactors use deuterium and tritium as fuel. Since tritium is extremely scarce in nature, the reactor must generate it internally by placing lithium within the blanket system. When neutrons released from the plasma interact with lithium, tritium is produced. The economic viability of fusion reactors heavily depends on how efficiently this tritium breeding can be achieved.
Adding beryllium to the blanket as a neutron multiplier can double the number of neutrons produced in each reaction, enabling more efficient tritium generation and boosting the overall efficiency of the fusion energy cycle.
However, beryllium is currently in extremely limited supply and is very expensive. In fact, the quantity needed for a single fusion reactor could exceed the total global production, making innovations in production and supply essential.
About MiRESSO Co.Ltd.
MiRESSO is a fusion startup certified by the National Institute of Quantum Science and Technology (QST) in Japan.
Fusion power generation, which is being developed around the world, requires large amounts of beryllium (Be) as a neutron multiplier. However, beryllium is expected to become a bottleneck to the widespread use of fusion power generation because of its overwhelming shortage at current production levels and its high price.
The low-temperature refining technology invented by Masaru Nakamichi and his colleagues at MiRESSO Co.,Ltd. has made it possible to refine mineral resources at a revolutionary low cost and energy saving, instead of the expensive high-temperature processing that was previously required. Our vision is to contribute to the social realization of fusion energy near future by providing a stable and low-cost supply of beryllium through this technology.
