FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif., July 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Tri Alpha Energy (TAE), the world's largest private fusion company, has achieved first plasma on its newest generator, Norman, formerly known as C-2W and now named after the company's late co-founder, Dr. Norman Rostoker.

The $100MM plasma generator, the fifth in a series of devices built over the last 20 years, will continue validation of the company's underlying technology and enable commercialization efforts toward delivering utility-scale fusion energy.  With Norman now operational, the company will continue to move quickly down its developmental path, expanding temperature ranges and sustaining plasma for longer periods towards perfecting the essential operating characteristics required to sustain fusion reactions.  Over the coming months, the company will be accelerating Norman's levels of performance to further validate the fundamental confinement requirements that will ultimately be necessary for commercial operations.

Michl Binderbauer, President and CTO, commented that "this important milestone is a great achievement for our company, and will allow us to further our leadership in breakthrough fusion technology, while critically validating our unique vision of generating clean, sustainable and abundant energy. It is a great honor to nickname this machine Norman after our late founder and mentor Norman Rostoker, as we believe this machine will continue to prove the approach to plasma physics he first envisioned and to which he dedicated his life."

Like previous iterations of the device, Norman uses an advanced field-reverse configuration (FRC) combined with intense neutral beam injection to create and confine plasma. Construction on this fifth-generation machine began in June of 2016, and it sits in a newly designed headquarters facility and control room in Foothill Ranch, CA.  It takes the place of the company's previous plasma generator, C-2U, which was able to successfully achieve its critical milestones including at-will plasma sustainment in June of 2015.  Norman expands upon these milestones with the opportunity to bring forward new understandings in plasmas dominated by highly energetic particles.

About Tri Alpha Energy

TAE is leveraging proprietary science and engineering – developed over nearly 20 years of focused research – to solve the quintessential problem of our time: harnessing an unlimited and powerful source of clean, renewable energy with boron as its fuel source. Using a unique pathway to fusion energy powered by nature's own processes that we call "Friendly Fusion," the company's approach combines advanced accelerator and plasma physics to create a commercially viable fusion power plant that is compact, safe, carbon-free and sustainable.  For more information, please visit www.trialphaenergy.com.

SOURCE Tri Alpha Energy