Israeli fusion startup nT-Tao fires first plasma toward 20 MW goal

Israeli energy startup nT-Tao has achieved a key milestone by successfully firing its first plasma pulses with the C3 prototype, advancing its fusion reactor development just two months after assembly began. Building on the previous C2-A campaign—which reached plasma temperatures around 100 eV—the C3 system serves as a testbed for a compact, modular fusion reactor design using proprietary magnetic-confinement and pulsed-power technology aimed at high-density plasma regimes. The current iteration incorporates refinements in magnets, pulsed power systems, diagnostics, and integration to improve plasma performance, with goals to achieve higher temperatures and longer confinement times. Data from C3 will validate simulations and guide future prototype development within an iterative 12-month engineering cycle. In parallel, nT-Tao and Ben-Gurion University researchers published a study on a nonlinear control system for pulsed-power resonant inverters, addressing the challenge of rapidly changing electrical loads during plasma formation. Their control architecture combines feedback linearization with a linear regulator to maintain