Atlanta-based fusion energy company ZC Institute announced plans for Kardashev One, a prototype fusion reactor designed to recover energy that current reactors lose as escaping radiation and neutrons. To validate a key technology, the company has engaged Professor Jason Cassibry and his team at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) for independent testing.
Every fusion approach today—whether inertial confinement with lasers or magnetic confinement in tokamaks—loses substantial energy as electromagnetic radiation and neutrons. No fusion reactor has achieved a net energy profit from the entire system. Magnetic fields cannot contain neutral particles like neutrons or radiation, which escape into reactor walls, driving up costs and creating long-lived radioactive waste that complicates maintenance and decommissioning.
Dr. Chance M. Glenn, Sr., founder of Morningbird Space, highlighted fusion's potential, noting the sun as a stable fusion reaction. In October 2024, Glenn's lab at Alabama A&M University produced and detected a lab-scale spacetime distortion using a high-voltage electrostatic discharge (ESD) spark gap and laser interferometry, published in peer-reviewed journals. They also demonstrated the ESD device can deflect photons, a foundational result for the fusion prototype work.
ZC Institute has licensed the ESD technology from Morningbird Space to implement the next step: deflecting neutrons similarly and channeling them back into the fusion reaction, rather than letting energy escape. The vision for Kardashev One pairs a conventional tokamak with the licensed ESD spacetime-distortion technology.
"What's unique about our approach is recovering neutrons and steering them back into the reaction, making it not just stable, but efficient, creating more energy than you put in," Glenn said. "If my work can help enable that, I'm proud to be part of it."
Glenn is bringing his apparatus to UAH, where Cassibry's lab will serve as an independent third-party testing site. Cassibry's team, largely undergraduate and graduate students, is building neutron-generating equipment and will report findings to ZC Institute. "A technology like this, which could deflect neutrons and perhaps insulate against radiation losses, would be transformational in terms of controlled thermonuclear fusion for power and propulsion," said Cassibry.
Testing is expected this fall, representing an early, independent step toward determining whether escaping neutrons and radiation could be steered back into the plasma. "Every other fusion company is cooking with the pot lid off," said Greg Hodgin, founder and CEO of ZC Institute. "We're the first fusion company trying to put the lid on. Our prototype will finally show that fusion is viable on Earth."
If Glenn's approach holds up, the ability to trap radiation and control neutrons could simplify future fusion reactor design, easing engineering problems and reducing long-term damage to reactor walls. ZC Institute cautions that significant work remains between validation and a fielded reactor, including scaling the effect to produce more energy than consumed.
If successful, neutron-management tools could support terrestrial fusion power plants and advanced space propulsion, potentially shortening mission times and expanding exploration possibilities. For more information, visit ZC Institute or Morningbird Space.
