Why Realta Fusion is building a fusion reactor at an old hot dog factory

Realta Fusion has spent the last two years looking for somewhere to build its research and development facility. In the end, it chose the old Oscar Mayer factory in Madison, Wisconsin.

“From sausages to fusion,” Kieran Furlong, co-founder and CEO of Realta Fusion, told TechCrunch with a chuckle. The new center, called Forge, will create its first plasma in 2029, he said. Realta recently showed that it could convert energy from fusion reactions directly into electricity, potentially easing the path to a commercial power plant.