Livermore Loses Bid For $1B Nuclear Fusion Research Center To Albuquerque

LIVERMORE, CA — Livermore lost out to Albuquerque, New Mexico in its bid to host a billion-dollar nuclear fusion research facility, a proposal the city council approved earlier this month. The city offered a variety of tax and financial incentives to coax research firm Pacific Fusion to build a facility to study nuclear fusion technology, a process that mimics the sun and fuses hydrogen atoms to release energy. This results in clean, limitless energy that does not produce nuclear waste.

Despite the loss, Livermore said that it will continue to court high-tech and scientific research firms.
“We extend our congratulations to Pacific Fusion and Albuquerque,” Mayor John Marchand said in a statement. “The hard work our staff put in trying to bring this company to Livermore has made an already innovative city even more efficient and ready for future investment. Livermore is firmly on the map as a global hub for science and technology, and every company looking to pioneer the next breakthrough should know that our doors are wide open.”

The city said in a news release that it is launching a strategic program in 2026 to support innovative businesses and enhance economic vitality using new resources and processes to shorten development timelines and accelerate the path to market to innovative businesses in Livermore. During its Pacific Fusion bid, city staff managed to compress an entitlement process that usually takes 12 months into four months.

Livermore offered an attractive package that included 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.

Albuquerque, the location of Sandia National Laboratories, proposed millions in incentives, including $776 million in city-issued Industrial Revenue Bonds, which would abate property taxes over 20 years. Pacific Fusion will receive these incentives once it meets its commitments to new jobs and capital investments in the city.

The new 225,000-square-foot research facility will be located on the Mesa del Sol site close to research partner Sandia National Laboratories.