New Fusion Bill Puts Capacitors on the Critical List

The bipartisan American Leadership in Fusion Act would invest $10 billion in commercial fusion and identify critical technologies across the pulsed power supply chain. First, it has to make it through Congress.

A commercial pulsed fusion plant will not run on one perfect shot. It will run on billions of them. Every shot draws on capacitor banks that store and deliver energy through pulsed power systems. Those capacitors must charge, discharge, and recover in a fraction of a second. The advanced dielectric film inside them helps determine how long that hardware survives.

Fusion developers are already investing in the manufacturing capabilities behind those pulses. Xcimer Energy is scaling production of high-performance energy storage capacitors for its laser systems in Tucson, Arizona. Helion manufactures its capacitors in-house and is bringing its purpose​​-built Omega pulsed power manufacturing facility online. Its Polaris machine alone uses just under 10,000 capacitors, illustrating why component cost, reliability, and production capacity matter at the system level.

Pacific Fusion is scaling manufacturing for a demonstration system built around 156 synchronized pulser modules, with assembly operations in California and New Mexico. Inertia Enterprises is developing another part of the manufacturing ecosystem through its partnership with Leonardo Electronics US, focused on semiconductor laser assemblies, pump systems, cooling, and manufacturing processes for lasers designed to fire ten times per second.

Meanwhile, Zap Energy recently reported progress under DOE’s Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program, including a pulsed power capacitor design projected to last 6 billion pulses and a separate prototype manufactured and tested in-house. That projected lifetime illustrates the endurance demands shaping commercial fusion hardware.

Together, these efforts show how the commercialization challenge reaches beyond the fusion chamber. Developers need components that can be manufactured at scale, operate repeatedly, and deliver a cost per pulse that supports affordable electricity.

Fusion companies raised a record $4.48 billion in private fusion funding in the 12 months leading up to July 2026. The question is whether the broader supply chain can grow fast enough to support them, and where federal investment can help close the gaps.

What The Bill Does

The bipartisan American Leadership in Fusion Act (H.R. 10574), introduced September 24, would put $10 billion in direct investment toward fusion research, test facilities, and commercialization. It also explicitly identifies high-power capacitors and their components, switches, insulators, and dielectric fluids as critical fusion supply-chain technologies.

For companies building pulsed power hardware, that recognition matters. It connects the demands emerging from individual fusion projects to a federal effort to develop the industrial capacity behind them.

The bill was introduced by Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Jay Obernolte (R-CA), with Reps. Lori Trahan (D-MA), Don Beyer (D-VA), and James Gallagher (R-CA), and would amend the Department of Energy Research and Innovation Act. According to ANS Nuclear Newswire, it would codify a DOE Office of Fusion led by a Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretary for Fusion Energy and move the existing Fusion Energy Sciences programs under that office.

The $10 billion splits roughly in half between milestone-based programs and test facilities plus research:

The bill also would authorize fusion education and workforce programs through NSF and DOE, including a national Fusion Skilled Technical Workforce and STEM Education Coordination Hub. The Fusion Industry Association endorsed it, saying the industry "needs a strong partner in the federal government" to deploy in the U.S. within the next decade.

The Supply Chain Section Reads Like a Pulsed Power Parts List

Section 101 of the bill text would direct the Secretary of Energy, working with the Secretary of Commerce, to "establish reliable supply chains for critical fusion energy manufacturing equipment." It lists 16 technology categories and a catch-all, including four covering energy storage and delivery hardware for pulsed fusion systems:

• High-power capacitors and components of such capacitors, which store energy for rapid release
• High-power switches, which control when that energy is released
• High-voltage conductors and insulators, which carry current and prevent unwanted electrical discharge
• Dielectric fluids and systems, which insulate and cool high-voltage components

The bill proposes $100 million for fusion supply chain development, explicitly including high-power capacitors and their components. That language matters for materials suppliers: it recognizes that reliable fusion hardware depends on the parts and materials inside it. “Components of such capacitors” extends the focus beyond finished devices. In a film capacitor, the dielectric film helps determine energy density, operating temperature, and service life.

These technologies serve multiple fusion approaches. Magnetic confinement machines use capacitors in magnet power supplies and plasma heating systems over long duty cycles. Inertial and other pulsed approaches, including impedance-matched Marx generator (IMG) architectures, can require tens of thousands of capacitors firing in tight synchronization. Commercial deployment will increase demand for both the components and the manufacturing capacity behind them.

Why Dielectric Film Is the Part to Watch

Many pulsed power capacitors today use biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film. BOPP is a proven material, but U.S. capacitor manufacturers rely heavily on imported dielectric film. Expanding domestic production is an important part of securing that supply chain. The same film supply serves the power grid, AI data centers, and defense systems, so fusion must compete for capacity with other electrified industries.

A supply chain built around imported film also creates constraints beyond availability. Commercial fusion asks for capacitors that run hotter, cycle faster, and last longer than research hardware, in less space. Those demands land first on the dielectric.

Conventional capacitor designs can manage voltage stress by dividing windings into smaller sections, each carrying a fraction of the total applied voltage. That approach works, but the resulting size, cooling requirements, and service life remain important design trade-offs. Films with higher breakdown strength, dielectric constant, and thermal tolerance could enable more compact, durable capacitors and reduce the size and cost of the banks built around them.

How the Bill Fits a Broader Federal Push

The American Leadership in Fusion Act is the latest of several measures that treat fusion components as part of industrial policy, not just research:

• Fusion Advanced Manufacturing Parity Act (2025). Introduced by Sens. Maria Cantwell and John Curtis with a bipartisan House companion, it would extend the Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit to fusion components, with capacitors among the examples named.
• FY26 appropriations. Report language called for continued support for domestic manufacturing of nanolayered capacitor film.
• California SB 925. Signed September 30, it directs a state fusion strategic plan and expands access to streamlined permitting for facilities that manufacture components integral to fusion energy.
• CHIPS R&D awards. On October 23, Commerce announced letters of intent for up to $389 million to strengthen domestic power electronics, including up to $175 million for Helion’s pulsed power semiconductors and up to $85 million for Commonwealth Fusion Systems. The awards address switching; the Act’s supply chain list extends the same logic to capacitors and their components.

Other countries are moving too. On October 7, Germany launched a €500 million milestone program to help companies advance toward demonstration power plants. The countries that win fusion will be the ones whose suppliers can build its components at volume.

What Peak Nano Is Building in Ohio

Peak Nano manufactures NanoPlex™ dielectric capacitor film at our facility in Valley View, Ohio. We make it through nanolayer coextrusion, which structures commercial polymers at the nanometer scale within a single film. At these dimensions, confinement and the interfaces between layers help shape material behavior. The layered architecture lets us tune electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties beyond what the same polymers deliver in bulk.

For fusion, we offer two film platforms. NanoPlex LDF can deliver up to five times the capacitor service life of BOPP under demanding operating conditions, supporting the long duty cycles of magnetic confinement. NanoPlex HDC can enable capacitors up to 50% smaller at equivalent energy storage, helping reduce the footprint of IMG modules. With E&P Technologies, we are developing NanoPlex HDC-based capacitors for fusion pulsed power, including IMG fusion systems, built on a U.S.-engineered supply chain with allied-nation sourcing.

To date, Peak Nano has invested about $120 million in our technology and domestic manufacturing. A new $20 million film and capacitor investment at our Macedonia, Ohio, facility, expected to come online in 2027, will add dielectric and medical film manufacturing and metallization capacity. Each additional production line is expected to create approximately 90 to 100 skilled manufacturing jobs in Northeast Ohio, a region we chose for its polymer expertise, workforce, universities, and manufacturing base.

We work with national laboratories, fusion programs, and defense contractors on applications for this technology. We are now at the capital-intensive stage of scaling production, which is exactly where legislation like this bill can help a supply chain keep pace with the machines it serves.

What Comes Next

H.R. 10574 has been introduced in the House and still needs to advance through Congress and receive the President’s signature to become law. As Congress refines it, three details will shape how far the supply chain provisions reach: whether component and materials manufacturers can compete for the supply chain funding alongside fusion developers, whether that support is coordinated with any extension of Section 45X credits to fusion components, and whether funding scales as the industry moves from pilot plants to fleets.

Ignition proved a critical part of the physics. A pulsed fusion power plant must repeat the process billions of times, and every repetition depends on reliable pulsed power hardware. Naming capacitors in a bipartisan fusion bill is a strong first step. Getting that language enacted and expanding domestic manufacturing capacity are the next ones.(Our earlier look at ARPA-E’s fusion investments covers the same supply chain question from the funding side.)

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the American Leadership in Fusion Act?

It is a bipartisan House bill, H.R. 10574, introduced September 24, 2026. It proposes $10 billion for fusion test facilities, milestone-based development and demonstration programs, research, and supply chains, and it would codify a DOE Office of Fusion led by a Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretary for Fusion Energy.

Does the bill mention capacitors?

Yes. Its supply chain section lists "high-power capacitors and components of such capacitors" among the critical fusion technologies DOE and the Department of Commerce would work to secure, alongside high-power switches, high-voltage conductors and insulators, and dielectric fluids.

Why do fusion power plants need so many capacitors?

Many fusion approaches use pulsed power: capacitors store electrical energy and release it in precisely timed bursts to drive magnets, heat plasma, or compress fuel. A commercial pulsed fusion plant must repeat those cycles reliably over years of operation. Zap Energy recently reported DOE approval of a capacitor design milestone with a projected lifetime of 6 billion pulses—not a demonstrated lifetime of that duration.

Is the bill law?

No. It has been introduced in the House and must advance through Congress, pass both chambers, and be signed by the President to become law. Its provisions, including dollar amounts, may change along the way.

How is Peak Nano involved in the fusion supply chain?

Peak Nano manufactures NanoPlex dielectric capacitor film in Valley View, Ohio, and is expanding capacity in Macedonia, Ohio. NanoPlex LDF targets long-life magnetic confinement applications, and NanoPlex HDC targets compact, high-energy-density pulsed power for inertial and IMG systems.