Fuse Taps Former Top Nuclear & National Security Officials as Advisors
SAN LEANDRO, Calif. (June 4, 2024) — Fuse Energy Technologies Corporation (Fuse) today announced an Advisory Board that will help the company forge partnerships in the energy and defense sectors. The group of senior nuclear scientists and national security experts includes former high-ranking officials from the U.S. Department of Energy, Department of Defense, and the Central Intelligence Agency:
Advisory Board members will work closely with Fuse’s senior leadership team to deepen and expand relationships with early U.S. Government customers and inform the company’s pulsed power technical strategy.
“It’s enormously gratifying to know these experts recognize the value in the Fuse mission, and we’re excited to put their strategic insights into practice as we work with critical partners in the U.S. Government,” said Fuse founder and CEO JC Btaiche. “Specifically, the Advisory Board will help us support and expand our national security customer base focused on nuclear survivability and resilience as a first step toward accelerating the world’s transition to fusion energy."
"Fuse has developed a viable pathway to commercial fusion with the ability to generate massive revenue through nuclear effects testing along the way,” said Ms. Gordon-Hagerty. “I’m incredibly excited to join the Fuse Advisory Board.”
"Fuse is not just tapping into an underserved market, it’s revolutionizing it,” said General Prupas. “In the realm of global competition, where mere computer simulations fall short, Fuse delivers imperative testing solutions vital for national security. Serving on the Advisory Board is an extension of the mission I supported while in uniform.”
“The Fuse technical approach has accomplished big results quickly with their two pulsed power devices, FAETON and TITAN, at a fraction of the cost,” said Professor Lehr. “I look forward to working with JC and the leadership team on the next steps.”
“Fuse is modernizing and commercializing a pulsed power technology that was initially researched and developed decades ago but largely forgotten until now. It has the novel approach of generating revenue here and now through nuclear effects testing, which will provide the capital and engineering insights necessary to make fusion energy a reality,” said Dr. Mehlhorn.
“Economic security and national security go hand-in-hand,” said Mr. Wagner. “On the energy front, Fuse will keep us in the lead in both. It’s an honor to join the Advisory Board to work alongside JC and the highly accomplished members of his team.”
Fuse recently announced it would use its pulsed power devices to conduct nuclear effects testing for the U.S. Air Force. Additionally, Fuse offers nuclear effects testing and radiation-as-a-service to commercial space, global energy, and microelectronics companies.
Full biographies of Fuse’s new Advisory Board members are below:
The Honorable Lisa Gordon-Hagerty
Ms. Gordon-Hagerty served as the Under Secretary for Nuclear Security, U.S. Department of Energy and Administrator, NNSA. She was responsible for the management and operations of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, the reduction of global danger from weapons of mass destruction, the enablement of nuclear propulsion for the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. response to nuclear and radiological emergencies. With over 35 years of national security experience, Ms. Gordon-Hagerty spent more than five years on the White House National Security Council staff, was a professional staff member, U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, and held other positions throughout her career. She began her professional career as a health physicist at DOE’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Major General Aaron M. Prupas, U.S. Air Force (retired)
General Prupas was the Director for Defense Intelligence (Warfighter Support) within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security. He was responsible for the operations and oversight of intelligence support to combatant commands, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), Project Maven, and defense intelligence analysis. He was a career intelligence officer who commanded at the squadron, group, and wing levels with multiple combat deployments. As the former commander of the Air Force Technical Applications Center, he was responsible for monitoring the nuclear activities of adversarial countries and international nuclear treaty adherence using ground and satellite-based detection systems.
Professor Jane Lehr
Professor Lehr is a nuclear pulsed power expert who wrote the textbook on nuclear pulsed power physics, Foundations of Pulsed Power Technology. Previously a senior scientist with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and research physicist with Sandia National Laboratories, Professor Lehr is an active researcher at the University of New Mexico’s Applied Electromagnetics Group where the thrust of her research is pulsed power generation, its applications, and high voltage phenomena. She previously served as President of the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society and is a recipient of the group’s Richard F. Shea distinguished member award.
Dr. Tom Mehlhorn
Dr. Mehlhorn is a nuclear pulsed power expert and former Superintendent of the Plasma Physics Division of the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). With 40 years of technical expertise in plasma simulation, inertial confinement fusion (ICF), nuclear energy, and directed energy, he is an Adjunct Professor of Nuclear Engineering at the University of Michigan, and serves on the Advisory Board of the National Academies’ Intelligence Science & Technology Expert Group (ISTEG). He began his career at Sandia in 1978 and has received various physics awards such as the IEEE Nuclear & Plasma Sciences Peter Haas Award and the Lockheed Martin NOVA award for thermonuclear neutrons on Sandia’s Z Machine.
Karl Wagner
Mr. Wagner is the former head of Counterintelligence Operations at the CIA. With more than 30 years of experience in national security roles, Mr. Wagner has planned and executed successful programs in some of the world’s most challenging operating environments, to include Latin America, the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa.
About Fuse
Fuse Energy Technologies Corporation is accelerating the world’s transition to fusion energy by securing clean, reliable, global energy abundance while also ensuring the U.S. and Allied competitiveness through nuclear effects testing.