General Atomics has been awarded a $20m (€17.6m) tax credit from the state of California to support the company’s proposal to design and develop a blanket component test facility in San Diego.

The proposed facility would be dedicated to testing full-scale fusion blanket components, an essential system that lines the inside of a fusion vessel, captures energy and produces tritium, a fuel needed to sustain fusion reactions.

The work would address a major scientific and engineering challenge on the path to the world’s first commercial fusion power plant.