Plasma heating technology developed for fusion applied to next-generation geothermal
TOKYO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Kyoto Fusioneering (“KF”) today announced that it has received an order from Quaise Energy, Inc. (“Quaise”) for a gyrotron system (gyrotron) for use in Quaise’s millimeter wave drilling technology for superhot geothermal development. The agreement was signed on August 17, 2026.
This is the first order KF’s plasma heating business has taken from a customer outside fusion. It is commercial demand for fusion-developed hardware, arriving ahead of fusion power itself.
Why geothermal drilling needs fusion hardware
Quaise’s drilling system uses millimeter waves generated by a gyrotron to ablate rock, with the aim of reaching the depths and temperatures associated with superhot geothermal resources that conventional mechanical drilling cannot reach economically. Unlike conventional drilling, the method requires no downhole hardware. The approach originated from more than a decade of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The gyrotron is the enabling component, and it is not a conventional drilling technology. Megawatt-class millimeter wave sources have essentially one practical implementation, the gyrotron, and the industrial base that builds them exists because fusion needs it.
KF’s gyrotron record
KF designs and builds gyrotrons across frequencies from 28 GHz to 236 GHz, including multi-frequency tubes. Delivered systems include two dual-frequency gyrotrons for the UK Atomic Energy Authority’s MAST Upgrade, a 1 MW system for Tokamak Energy’s ST40, and the first of two units for the U.S. Department of Energy’s DIII-D National Fusion Facility. KF has also completed the design of a 1.5–2 MW class gyrotron for the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator and ASDEX Upgrade at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics.
Continuous operation is the difference
Most of the fusion machines operating today are experimental devices that heat plasma in pulses lasting seconds. Drilling does not work that way. The millimeter wave source has to run continuously for as long as the hole is being advanced, and the unit KF is supplying to Quaise is specified and designed on that basis. This, rather than the underlying physics, is what distinguishes a drilling gyrotron from the fusion heating gyrotrons KF builds today.
The requirement is not unique to drilling. Fusion power plants will also need heating systems that run continuously; the pulsed duty cycles of the current research fleet are a property of today’s machines, not of where the technology is going. Building a gyrotron for continuous operation for a geothermal customer is work directly relevant to fusion.
In September 2024, KF was selected for NEDO’s Deep-Tech Startups Support Program in the Green Transformation (GX) field — NEDO is Japan’s national energy and industrial technology R&D funding agency — to develop high-power, continuous-operation gyrotrons and power supplies for superhot geothermal development. The Quaise order is the first commercial outcome of that work.
Building the supply base fusion will need
That industrial base is small. Fusion plants will need it substantially larger than it is today. Orders from outside fusion put work through the same design, engineering, and quality systems that fusion will require, which is how that capability gets built before fusion needs it rather than after.
“The gyrotron supply chain has to grow well beyond its current size to meet what fusion will need, and it has to grow before that demand arrives, not after. KF is investing in that capability now and taking commercial work that builds it. This work with Quaise is an important part of that.”
— Takashi Imai, Group CEO, Plasma Heating Group, Kyoto Fusioneering
Japan holds one of the world’s largest geothermal resource bases, and its deep, high-temperature resources remain largely undeveloped because conventional drilling has not reached them economically. Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and NEDO are supporting superhot geothermal, closed-loop systems, and Enhanced Geothermal Systems under the Green Innovation Fund. KF intends to apply what it learns from this project to next-generation geothermal development in Japan.
About Quaise Energy
Quaise Energy is unlocking the Earth’s deep heat to deliver clean, reliable, baseload energy at scale—almost anywhere in the world. As both a technology innovator and project developer, Quaise builds and operates solutions that harness superhot geothermal energy far below the surface, enabling power generation that can rival the output of today’s most efficient fossil fuel and nuclear plants. With its millimeter wave drilling technology, developed after more than a decade of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Quaise’s mission is to make superhot geothermal a backbone of the modern energy system, offering affordable, zero-carbon power and true energy independence for communities and nations everywhere. Visit them at quaise.com.
About Kyoto Fusioneering
Kyoto Fusioneering is the world’s premier fusion technology and integrated systems developer. It delivers plasma heating, tritium fuel cycle, and tritium breeding blanket and thermal cycle systems that advanced fusion programs worldwide depend on, regardless of confinement approach. KF operates globally across Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada. Visit us at kyotofusioneering.com.
Contacts
Media Contact
Kohei Yamamoto
Director, Head of Public Affairs & Communications
media@kyotofusioneering.com
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