Livermore Approves Billion-Dollar Nuclear Fusion Research Facility Proposal

LIVERMORE, CA — The Livermore City Council voted unanimously and enthusiastically to support a proposal for Pacific Fusion to build a billion-dollar fusion energy research facility on West Jack London Boulevard that is estimated to bring 250 high-paying jobs to the city.

Pacific Fusion, a new company devoted to helping achieve fusion energy, will now choose whether to build a facility in Livermore or competing cities like Alameda or Albuquerque.

“Could you think of a better city? Our city seal has the atom on it,” said Vice Mayor Evan Branning as he gestured toward the seal on the dais. “We aren't just looking to build you a box to put your technology in. Livermore is the city, the only city, that is going to support you not just through building this building, but for as long as you are here to make sure that this is the location to expand this technology.”

The council voted to approve the application for the 225,000-square-foot nuclear fusion research and development facility aiming to produce nuclear fusion, an elusive type of energy technology that would create limitless clean energy if realized. Unlike nuclear fission, an existing technology that splits atoms and creates radioactive waste, nuclear fusion mimics the process that powers the sun by fusing hydrogen atoms to release energy.

The Pacific Fusion facility would be located on the recently-annexed S&P 39 and 40 area, and reach 110 feet in height. The proposal includes landscaping and a public art project.

Due to the tall height, the council also approved a zoning amendment and conditional use package. The approved proposal also includes economic incentives to attract Pacific Fusion, including a rebate of 80% of Livermore’s share of an unsecured property tax for a period of 10 years; an adjustment of the industrial construction tax for certain uses that is estimated to remove roughly $630,000 from project costs; and the formation of a Community Facilities District that will spread roughly $8 million in public improvement and impact fees spread out over a 30-year period.

All Livermore council members voiced enthusiastic support.

“We are very excited about this project,” said Mayor John Marchand, noting that the city is one of only six in the world to have an element on the Periodic Table named after it, the world’s largest supercomputer, and many more scientific distinctions. “I think that's fairly obvious. And I think if this is going to succeed anywhere, it's going to be on Livermore. So I wholeheartedly support this project.”

Marchand also asked questions about whether the landscaping will be pollinator-friendly (some will be, according to staff), and if the public art could be made to blend harmoniously into the natural surroundings (art will be approved by the Commission for the Arts.)

“It would be hard for [Pacific Fusion] to find a more qualified labor pool in any other city perhaps in the world,” said Councilmember Kristie Wang. “This project is a great match for Livermore. I've been on our Climate Action Committee for a couple of years, and this really serves our Climate Action Plan very well and our focus on supporting green energy technology.”

Councilmember Steven Dunbar noted that he feels the incentives package is “extremely reasonable” and financially sustainable. “I don't need to worry about whether the city is going to be in financial trouble if this doesn't work, and I can just sit back and support this project, hoping that it does work because of all the benefits to the world that it would have if it did,” he said.

“We've seen a lot of pullback in support from the federal government for solar and wind, and the alternative of not getting this is more coal and natural gas use, which doesn't really help anybody. So I can only say God speed to trying to get this to work. I hope it works, and it has my support.”

“I think it's a good step forward for Livermore,” said Councilmember Ben Barrientos. “I see Livermore as a science center and also an art center, and I think that this will be a boon for Livermore, and I think it will be a big ripple effect if we get it…We're competing against some high-powered cities, but I think the area we have and the people we have here and the groups that came forward today, I think we all get together and we push this thing over the finish line, and I hope they will bring it over here.”

Six out of seven public comments were also in favor of the facility, including Rick Stulen, director of Quest Science Center and former vice president at Sandia National Laboratories; Tracy Farhad, president and CEO of Visit Tri-Valley; and Katie Marcel, CEO of the Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group.

The only voice against the project was Greg Scott, who called the project an “expensive, colossal boondoggle.”

“The chance of generating electricity out of nuclear fusion in the foreseeable future is about like generating electricity from fairy dust,” he said. Scott claimed that the facility would need to use a hydrogen isotope called tritium, which is rare and potentially polluting.

Pacific Fusion did not mention the use of tritium in the facility.

Drew Felker, who lives near the project proposal site, voiced his support.

“We are maybe a decade away from a fusion power plant if we mobilize behind that technology like we did in the space race. In the 1960s, we were competing against the Soviet Union. This time, humanity must stand together against a common threat in the climate crisis,” he said. “If Livermore welcomes fusion development and the technology never delivers, I would never fault us for trying. But if fusion succeeds in powering the planet, Livermore and its forward thinking may be thought of as brilliant as the sun.”

Visit pacificfusion.com for more information.