Avalanche Energy has selected the Tri-Cities for its first global manufacturing facility for compact fusion energy machines, a project the Seattle-based company and the Tri-City Development Council say could eventually create hundreds of long-term jobs. The plans were announced Oct. 8 at a press conference in Kennewick, where Avalanche and TRIDEC signed a strategic engagement letter to work together on the project.
Avalanche chose the region after a nationwide site evaluation that considered multiple industrial and technology hubs across the United States, according to the company's announcement. Under the letter, Avalanche and TRIDEC will work together on site selection, permitting, infrastructure readiness, regional supply chain development and specialized workforce development.
No site has been chosen. TRIDEC will coordinate with its jurisdictional partners and intends to issue a request for information to its economic development partners to evaluate potential sites based on the project's infrastructure, workforce, transportation, utility and development requirements. The plant would operate near FusionWERX, Avalanche's research and development facility in Port of Benton-owned space at 2345 Stevens Drive in Richland. Avalanche could start with a plant that requires about 20 acres, but expansion could eventually require hundreds of acres, the Tri-City Herald reported.
The facility would begin as a prototype production plant and is expected to expand into a fully vertically integrated commercial manufacturing operation capable of producing hundreds of fusion machines a year. TRIDEC and Avalanche officials told the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business that means handling raw materials, making the necessary alloys, machining parts and assembling the machines on site. Avalanche is developing modular fusion machines with target capacities of 100 kilowatts and 5 megawatts, and the Herald reported possible uses include data centers, disaster relief and defense.
"We envision a world-class manufacturing center that can produce hundreds of fusion machines each year, create hundreds of long-term jobs and generate significant economic activity while positioning the Tri-Cities and Washington state at the forefront of the global fusion industry," Avalanche co-founder and CEO Robin Langtry said in the announcement.
Gov. Bob Ferguson and U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., spoke at the event. Ferguson called the planned manufacturing center a "big deal," saying it would be significant for the state's clean energy future, its climate goals, its manufacturing economy and jobs, the Herald reported. Newhouse said the project would bring construction jobs first, then hundreds of skilled and unskilled jobs.
Alex Campbell, Avalanche's head of commercial markets, told the Journal the company picked the Tri-Cities for its experienced nuclear workforce, institutions such as Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Washington State University Tri-Cities, and its rail and waterway transportation networks. "The ability to have rail and port access to ship these machines to not only domestic markets but international markets is a unique attribute that not many places have," Campbell said.
The technology still has a way to go. There is no commercial fusion energy production industry yet, the Herald noted, as fusion companies work to produce more energy from a fusion reaction than it takes to create the reaction. Avalanche says it remains on track to demonstrate net fusion energy gain before 2030.
Sources
- Avalanche Energy (news release): Avalanche Energy and TRIDEC Advance Plans for First Global Fusion Machine Manufacturing Facility in the Tri-Cities, Oct. 8, 2026
- Tri-City Herald: Fusion energy developer plans to manufacture in Tri-Cities, create 100s of jobs, Oct. 8, 2026
- NBC Right Now (NonStop Local): Tri-Cities picked for Avalanche Energy's first fusion machine plant, Oct. 8, 2026
- Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business: Fusion startup picks Tri-Cities for advanced nuclear plant, Oct. 13, 2026
- Tip (not a news source): @heykimfeliciano Instagram Reel
