Norm is TAE Technologies' compact beam-driven field-reversed configuration (FRC) research device, rebuilt from its earlier Norman machine. In 2025 TAE showed FRCs can be formed by neutral-beam injection alone, simplifying the reactor design.
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Current state
| Status | Operating |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Foothill Ranch / Irvine, California |
| Developer | TAE Technologies |
| Developer type | Private |
| Concept | Field-reversed configuration |
| Fuel | p-B11 |
| Purpose | Research |
| Private funding raised | USD 1.3bn (as of 2025-12-18) |
Notes
TAE's long-term fuel goal is p-B11; near-term plant designs may use other fuels. private funding raised is TAE's 'more than $1.3 billion' private capital stated in the Dec 2025 merger release (OCBJ reported $1.35bn after the June 2025 round). first plasma date of Norm not found.
Timeline
- 2025-04-12 — TAE published in Nature Communications that field-reversed configurations can be generated by neutral beam injection alone on Norm. (source)
- 2025-06 — TAE reported Norm achieved stable plasma above 70 million °C and raised another $150 million. (source)
- 2026-08-12 — TAE reported more than 100,000 experiments, with its current machine running about 50 shots a day. (source)
The timeline is append-only: corrections are added as new entries. Stated targets appear in the current-state table, never as milestones.
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See all 51 projects in the Fusion Energy Companies & Projects Tracker →
Sources
- Generation of field-reversed configurations via neutral beam injection — Nature Communications / PMC (primary), checked 2026-10-11
- TAE Technologies 2025 — Orange County Business Journal, checked 2026-10-11
- News and Press — TAE Technologies (primary), checked 2026-10-11
- Trump Media and Technology Group to Merge with TAE Technologies — TAE Technologies (primary), checked 2026-10-11