Swedish companies Studsvik and Novatron Fusion Group (NFG) have formed a strategic partnership to strengthen the Nordic region’s position in the fusion sector by supporting the development of a fusion reactor based on NFG’s technology.
NFG’s approach is based on a mirror machine design combined with a proprietary plasma containment method. Studsvik’s nuclear experience includes operation of a licensed nuclear site in Nyköping and services for the nuclear sector, including fuel, materials, software, and waste management.
The collaboration includes material testing, modelling and simulation, decommissioning and waste, construction and siting of an industrial-scale pilot reactor, support for regulatory licensing, and assessment of the technology’s applicability in other sectors.
“By leveraging Studsvik’s unique site infrastructure and deep expertise in integrating advanced nuclear technologies with next generation industries like our own, we aim to strengthen the Nordic energy landscape,” said NFG CEO Peter Roos. “Together, we are committed to using our combined assets and expertise in both fusion and fission to improve performance, accelerate deployment, and reduce lifetime costs for new nuclear energy production.”
Studsvik President and CEO Karl Thedéen noted that Studsvik operates the only privately owned research laboratory in the world. “Combining Novatron Fusion Group’s technology and capabilities with Studsvik’s infrastructure, global knowledge and site expertise, is an important step toward realising synergies in the Nordics and beyond. This will help accelerate the deployment of commercial fusion power,” he said.
NFG, founded in 2019, aims to streamline the fusion energy process while reducing capital and operational cost of future fusion reactors through a series of unique selling propositions – technical advantages that solve problems faced by other fusion designs. These include passive stability (Nocatron’s magnetic field geometry naturally keeps the plasma contained without needing complex, high-speed computer corrections); lower capital cost (the “open” magnetic mirror design is simpler and cheaper to build than the “doughnut” shape of a tokamak); and continuous operation (the technology allows for a steady stream of energy rather than short “pulses,” making it more efficient for the power grid).
NFG’s financial backers include Axon Partners Group, Climentum Capital, Granitor, Industrifonden, InnoEnergy, KTH Holding, Santander, St1, TomEnterprise and Unit E Limited.
The core of NFG’s technology is the Axisymmetric Tandem Mirror (ATM), which addresses historical stability issues that led the global fusion community to largely abandon mirror machines in the 1980s in favour of tokamaks.
Key features include:
- Concave Magnetic Field – NFG’s design creates a magnetic field that is stronger at the edges than in the centre. If plasma particles try to escape, they encounter an increasing magnetic force that pushes them back, providing inherent passive stability.
- Axisymmetric Mirror-Cusp Topology – this combines the simple, symmetrical design of a magnetic mirror with “biconic cusps” to ensure the magnetic field lines always curve away from the plasma, suppressing the “interchange instabilities” that typically cause plasma to leak from mirror machines.
- Triple-Force Plugging – NFG utilises three integrated techniques to prevent plasma from leaking out of the reactor’s open ends: magnetic confinement (using the primary mirror field); ambipolar (electrostatic) plugging (creating an electric potential within the plasma to repel escaping ions); and ponderomotive confinement (using external radio-frequency fields to exert force on the plasma particles).
NFG’s roadmap includes a lab-scale experimental machine (Novatron) at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm that achieved its first plasma and successful system integration tests in early 2025. Novatron 2 is a planned fusion pilot plant intended for the Stockholm area to further demonstrate the technology. NFG targets commercial viability by approximately 2040.
The siting study conducted in 2025 by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland on behalf of Novatron Fusion Group (NFG) evaluated Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden to identify the most suitable locations for the Novatron 3, the industrial-scale pilot plant. While all four countries were found to meet the basic technical requirements, Finland was identified as the overall frontrunner due to its superior regulatory readiness.
