Avalanche Energy Wins $5.2M DARPA Deal to Advance Nuclear Battery and Fusion Power Tech

New updates have been reported about Avalanche Energy.

Avalanche Energy secured a $5.2 million DARPA Rads to Watts contract to develop compact, solid-state nuclear batteries that convert alpha particles from radioisotopes directly into electricity, a step that aligns tightly with its strategy to commercialize portable fusion power. Over the 30-month program, the Seattle-based startup will engineer and test micro-fabricated cells designed to exceed 10 watts per kilogram and maintain performance in harsh radiation environments such as space, validating resilience using both particle accelerators and active radioisotopes.

Although the DARPA device uses radioisotopes, Avalanche views the work as foundational to its long-term plan for direct energy conversion from charged particles in its fusion machines, with the same micro-structures expected to translate to extracting power efficiently from fusion-produced alpha particles. The project also underpins a strategic “flywheel” around its core fusion platform, as the neutrons from future fusion systems could generate the high-power radioisotopes these batteries require, while a consortium including the University of Utah, Caltech, LANL and McQuaide Microsystems helps position Avalanche to serve defense, space, and autonomous platforms.

The award follows a $29 million equity raise announced in February 2026 and a $1.25 million AFWERX contract to develop advanced materials for extreme environments, signaling growing government and private backing for Avalanche’s modular compact fusion approach. Management frames these developments as critical milestones toward delivering resilient, carbon-free baseload power for defense and commercial uses, including remote military bases, space propulsion, underwater vehicles, data centers, and other grid-constrained assets, and as a way to accelerate the maturation, manufacturability, and scalability of its stacked, compact fusion systems.

Avalanche’s CEO, Robin Langtry, has emphasized that direct energy conversion technologies emerging from Rads to Watts will be essential for realizing practical fusion power at useful power densities and form factors. For executives and investors, the combination of non-dilutive government funding, aligned R&D on nuclear batteries, and an expanding partner ecosystem materially strengthens Avalanche’s technology roadmap, diversifies its future revenue opportunities in defense and space power, and reinforces its positioning in the competitive compact fusion landscape.