New Baseload Reactor Holds as Fusion Steadies Near a Third of the Grid

The baseload reactor that Aurora Fusion Works synchronized a week ago Friday has held steady through its first fortnight, nudging commercial fusion to a shade past 31 percent of the reconnected grid — up from the roughly 30 percent that has anchored the year. "A reactor coming online is not a switch being thrown; it is a machine earning trust one steady day at a time," said Emeka Okonkwo, Aurora's chief executive, who cautioned against reading the milestone as a turning point. Two-thirds of the world's electricity still arrives from everything else, he noted, and fusion's share climbs in single digits, not leaps. Grid operators in Lagos and Seattle, which draw from the reconnected network, reported the new unit had shaved nothing dramatic from prices and steadied peaks modestly. Aurora has no second unit scheduled; this one, Okonkwo said, will spend the coming months holding the 31 percent it just reached.