But I believe it is close to paying off big.” said Scott Hsu, a DOE senior advisor and lead fusion coordinator, addressing Fusion Week attendees.“You are a fusion hub, whether you know it or not.” Sally Benson, an energy leader with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, also attended the event and praised the Pacific Northwest.With these projects, their goals are to hit “breakeven” or “Q=1,” which means they’re producing as much power as it takes to create fusion.Helion Energy - Location: Everett and Redmond, Wash. - Founded: 2013 - Funding: $572 million in venture capital and $5 million in government grants, plus an additional $1.7 billion venture capital if key milestones are achieved - Number of employees: 120 - Technology: Magneto-inertial fusion, pulsed operation, field-reversed configuration - Fuel: Deuterium and helium-3 (different forms of hydrogen and helium) - Notable milestones: In 2021 became the first privately funded company to exceed 100 million degrees Celsius plasma temperatures in its Trenta prototype.- Founders: Founder David Kirtley is a University of Michigan graduate, while co-founders Chris Pihl and George Votroubek are graduates of the University of Washington - Notable investors: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI and former president of Y Combinator; Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz; Mithril"