AquaTerra Fusion to Present Ultra-Small Reactor Technology at NPFA 2025

AquaTerra Fusion, a nuclear technology start-up, will introduce a prototype of its ultra-small reactor design at Nuclear Power Forum Asia 2025 in Manila, Philippines. The company’s approach, called Fusion Induced Fission (FIF®), is intended to produce safe, proliferation-resistant nuclear power at outputs as low as 5 kilowatts electric – small enough for specialized or mobile applications.

Founder and CEO Daniel Gruenberg will present the technology’s current status, including results from a TRL 6 prototype that has demonstrated 300% net positive energy in laboratory tests. The design targets markets underserved by conventional power infrastructure, such as off-grid communities, disaster response sites, and artificial intelligence data centers with high energy demands.

The FIF® concept addresses fuel security and proliferation concerns by using a unique reactor configuration that differs from traditional designs. AquaTerra claims this enables a new category of deployment scenarios, including combined heat and power systems and modular distributed energy solutions.

Gruenberg, whose career spans microbiology, immunology, and engineering, will also discuss proposed collaboration models for governments, universities, and industry to accelerate commercial readiness. His session will explore intellectual property sharing frameworks and equitable benefit distribution, aiming to build a global ecosystem around the technology.

If successfully commercialized, FIF® systems could complement existing small modular reactor concepts by offering greater portability and application flexibility. This could open new opportunities in Asia’s growing clean energy market.

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Rex Sayson

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