Fusion power startup Zap Energy pulls a partial pivot, adding nuclear fission to the mix

核聚变初创公司 Zap Energy 部分转型，将核裂变纳入业务版图

Nobody said building a fusion power plant would be easy. Physicists and engineers have been working for decades to crack the problem. But over the last year or so, fusion startup Zap Energy took a deeper look at its pathway to a working power plant and decided that it would be quicker to build a fission power plant first. Wait, what? 没人说过建造核聚变发电站是一件容易的事。物理学家和工程师们几十年来一直致力于攻克这一难题。然而在过去一年左右的时间里，核聚变初创公司 Zap Energy 在深入审视其通往商用发电站的路径后，决定先建造一座核裂变发电站。等等，什么？

“Fission and fusion are two sides of the same coin,” Zap’s new CEO, Zabrina Johal, told TechCrunch. “They have so many challenges that are congruent with each other.” Zap is among the better-funded fusion startups, having raised more than $300 million, so this partial pivot holds some shock value, no matter how many synergies exist between fission and fusion. “裂变和聚变是同一枚硬币的两面，”Zap 的新任首席执行官 Zabrina Johal 在接受 TechCrunch 采访时表示，“它们面临着许多相互重合的挑战。”Zap 是资金最雄厚的核聚变初创公司之一，已筹集超过 3 亿美元资金。因此，无论裂变与聚变之间存在多少协同效应，这一部分转型仍然令人感到震惊。

It starts to make more sense against the backdrop of rising energy demand from AI data centers, which is expected to nearly triple by 2030. Tech companies want electricity today, and one of the challenges facing every fusion startup is that grid-ready power plants won’t be ready for several more years — likely a decade or more. 在人工智能数据中心能源需求不断增长的背景下，这一举动开始变得合乎逻辑——预计到 2030 年，相关需求将增长近三倍。科技公司现在就需要电力，而每一家核聚变初创公司面临的挑战之一就是，能够接入电网的发电站还需要几年——很可能需要十年或更久——才能准备就绪。

“There is not enough power and energy in the world to build all the data centers that are needed,” Johal said. “It just meant we need to pull this in faster; we need to get something that’s relevant to the grid today.” “世界上没有足够的电力和能源来建设所有需要的数据中心，”Johal 说，“这意味着我们需要加快进度；我们需要拿出一些今天就能接入电网的解决方案。”

Two ways to split an atom 裂变与聚变：原子分裂的两种方式

Fission is commercially viable in a way that fusion is not. Fusion is the practice of fusing two light atoms like hydrogen, which also releases energy. One experiment has been able to produce more energy than the fusion reaction needed to ignite, but it wasn’t anywhere close to what a power plant would need to generate. Fission splits heavy atoms like uranium to produce power, and we’ve been doing that since the 1950s. 核裂变在商业上是可行的，而核聚变目前还做不到。核聚变是将两个轻原子（如氢）融合在一起，从而释放能量的过程。虽然曾有实验产生的能量超过了引发聚变反应所需的能量，但这与发电站所需的发电量相去甚远。核裂变则是通过分裂铀等重原子来产生动力，我们从 20 世纪 50 年代起就已经在应用这一技术了。

Despite decades of experience, building fission reactors cost-effectively remains a significant challenge. Fission startups building small modular reactors (SMR) are counting on mass manufacturing to help bring costs down, though that theory has yet to be proven. Benefits from scaling production can take around a decade to materialize. 尽管拥有数十年的经验，但以经济高效的方式建造裂变反应堆仍然是一个重大挑战。致力于建造小型模块化反应堆（SMR）的裂变初创公司寄希望于大规模制造来降低成本，尽管这一理论尚未得到验证。规模化生产带来的效益可能需要大约十年时间才能显现。

Johal said that Zap expects to start generating revenue from the new fission business within a year. “Our business model is not dependent upon generating electrons,” she said. Revenue could come from federal programs from the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy, but it could also include “milestone payments” and reserved production capacity from companies that need massive amounts of electricity, she said. Johal 表示，Zap 预计在一年内从新的裂变业务中产生收入。“我们的商业模式并不依赖于发电本身，”她说。她指出，收入可能来自国防部和能源部的联邦项目，也可能包括来自需要大量电力的公司的“里程碑付款”和预留产能。

Milestone payments could be an intriguing model for Zap and other energy startups to follow. It’s similar in concept to how ASML extracted money from Intel, TSMC, and Samsung to develop extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV). The semiconductor manufacturers effectively paid a premium for ASML shares, underwriting R&D in the technology and reserving capacity once EUV machines entered production. 对于 Zap 和其他能源初创公司来说，里程碑付款可能是一种值得借鉴的有趣模式。其概念类似于阿斯麦（ASML）从英特尔、台积电和三星那里筹集资金以开发极紫外光刻（EUV）技术的方式。这些半导体制造商实际上支付了溢价购买 ASML 股份，为该技术的研发提供资金，并预留了 EUV 机器投产后的产能。

But there’s a fundamental difference between what Zap is attempting and what ASML pulled off. When ASML ginned up its “Customer Co-Investment Program for Innovation,” it was clear the Dutch company was the only show in town — everyone else had given up on EUV. In the energy world, tech companies have a range of different technologies and suppliers to pick from. They’ll want to see something extra special in Zap’s fission proposal before they pony up. 但 Zap 正在尝试的事情与 ASML 当年的成功之间存在根本区别。当 ASML 启动其“客户联合创新投资计划”时，很明显这家荷兰公司是当时唯一的选择——其他竞争对手都已放弃了 EUV。而在能源领域，科技公司有多种不同的技术和供应商可供选择。在掏钱之前，他们肯定希望在 Zap 的裂变方案中看到一些特别之处。

On that front, potential buyers can already start assessing Zap’s plans. The startup’s fission reactor will be based on the 4S, a molten salt-cooled design that was jointly developed by Toshiba and Japan’s power industry research institute. Ultimately, it was never built, but Johal said the design comes with “no intellectual property entanglement.” Johal expects there will be enough demand in the 2030s that Zap will find plenty of customers, despite being years behind other fission startups. “There will not be enough reactors in the near term,” she said. 在这方面，潜在买家已经可以开始评估 Zap 的计划。该初创公司的裂变反应堆将基于 4S 设计，这是一种由东芝和日本电力工业研究机构联合开发的熔盐冷却设计。虽然该设计最终未被建造，但 Johal 表示，该设计“不存在知识产权纠纷”。Johal 预计 2030 年代将有足够的需求，使 Zap 能够找到大量客户，尽管它比其他裂变初创公司晚了几年。“短期内反应堆的数量将供不应求，”她说。

Follow the money 追随资金流向

For Zap’s fission gambit to pay off, one of two things needs to occur: It’ll have to bring in revenue or bring in new investment. Given Johal’s comments on government funding and milestone payments from large energy users, revenue is the obvious play. The cost of developing one reactor concept is eye-wateringly high. The cost of developing a second may not be double, but it’s almost certainly not free. The more cash the better. 为了让 Zap 的裂变赌注获得回报，必须发生以下两件事之一：要么产生收入，要么引入新的投资。鉴于 Johal 关于政府资助和大型能源用户里程碑付款的评论，产生收入是显而易见的策略。开发一个反应堆概念的成本高得惊人。开发第二个反应堆的成本可能不会翻倍，但几乎肯定不是免费的。现金越多越好。

Zap isn’t the only fusion company to pursue side businesses to bring in revenue. Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Tokamak Energy are selling its high-temperature superconducting magnets to other fusion companies and experiments, while others like TAE and Shine Technologies are in nuclear medicine. Some of those revenue opportunities are more aligned with building a fusion power plant than others. Zap 并不是唯一一家通过副业来增加收入的核聚变公司。Commonwealth Fusion Systems 和 Tokamak Energy 正在向其他核聚变公司和实验项目出售其高温超导磁体，而 TAE 和 Shine Technologies 等公司则涉足核医学领域。其中一些创收机会与建造核聚变发电站的关联度比其他机会更高。

Zap argues that its fission plan will help it move faster on everything but the fusion reactor itself, including things like materials testing and power systems. The company also argues that it can gain experience in regulatory domains, though Johal said this is more about building relationships with regulators than navigating specific rules. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a cautious government agency, has provided fusion companies with a separate set of guidelines. Zap 辩称，其裂变计划将帮助它在除核聚变反应堆本身之外的所有领域加快进度，包括材料测试和电力系统等。该公司还认为，它可以在监管领域获得经验，尽管 Johal 表示，这更多是关于与监管机构建立关系，而不是仅仅为了应对具体的规则。核管理委员会（NRC）作为一个谨慎的政府机构，已经为核聚变公司提供了一套单独的指导方针。