UK-based First Light Fusion has appointed Andreas Lusch as a non-executive director.

Andreas LuschLucsch has had a 30-year career spanning the international oil & gas, petrochemicals and energy industries, and most recently was the President and CEO of GE's Steam Power Business.

First Light Fusion – founded by Nick Hawker and Professor Yiannis Ventikos in 2011 to address the need to decarbonise the global energy system – is developing a form of inertial confinement fusion. In 2019, the company completed the construction of “Machine 3”, a high-voltage pulsed power device that delivers a current equivalent to around 500 lightning strikes. This machine is used to fire a 20km/s projectile into First Light’s proprietary targets, to achieve fusion.

Once First Light has achieved and verified fusion, it will then move forward to building “Machine 4”, which will seek to prove “gain” by 2024. First Light is aiming to bring a fusion reactor to the grid by the 2030s.

Andreas Lusch said: "First Light’s unique inertial confinement technology, combined with a very clear business plan and route to market, make it an exciting business. I am very much looking forward to helping it grow and develop."


Photo: Andreas Lusch was named non-executive director of First Light Fusion in mid-November