Fusion energy start-up closes latest round, renews push for breakthrough this year

May 3, 2011 - PRLog -- New Jersey research start-up Lawrenceville Plasma Physics, Inc. (LPP) has closed a $900,000 second round of seed financing for its breakthrough fusion energy research.  Building on record fusion yields, the peer-reviewed effort placed a scientific demonstration of net energy within reach this year if support continues.  LPP CFO Aaron Blake expressed hope for funding success in the private sector and from renewed government attention based on the firm’s demonstration of temperatures hot enough to burn a new generation of ultraclean fusion fuels.  “The Fukushima Daiichi crisis and the anniversaries of Chernobyl and BP’s Gulf oil spill should add up to a major wake up call for accelerating fusion,” Blake said.

Since conducting initial experiments at the University of Illinois and Texas A&M with $300K from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, LPP has raised over $2M from nearly 40 private investors from around the world.  The Abell Foundation of Baltimore, MD has been the lead institutional investor.  LPP's Focus Fusion-1 dense plasma focus device--designed to test a patented approach to fusion energy--became operational in October 2009.  By concentrating a blast of electricity into a tiny region, Focus Fusion-1 regularly generates billions of fusion reactions.  The machine’s experimental room is smaller than a typical garage.  A new round will fund further upgrades to “FoFu-1” and advance spin-off technologies in X-ray non-destructive inspection.

Disclaimer: This press release is not intended to be an offer of securities to the residents of any state, nor is it an offer otherwise specifically directed to any person in any state by, or on behalf of, Lawrenceville Plasma Physics, Inc. Any forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of LPP's management and reflect current expectations at the time the statements are made with respect to future events based on information available at that time, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in those forward-looking statements.

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Our lead project is the development of a dense plasma focus fusion reactor, using hydrogen and boron fuel. If we succeed, "Focus Fusion" will be an extremely economical, compact, environmentally safe and essentially inexhaustible source of energy.