ZC Institute's Kardashev One Aims to Revolutionize Fusion with Neutron Recovery

ZC Institute, an Atlanta-based fusion energy company, has announced plans for Kardashev One, a fusion prototype reactor designed to recover energy that current fusion reactors lose as escaping radiation and neutrons. To validate the technology, ZC Institute has engaged Professor Jason Cassibry and his team at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) to independently test the field-distortion technology developed by Dr. Chance M. Glenn, Sr., founder of Morningbird Space. Every fusion approach today, whether inertial confinement (lasers) or magnetic confinement (tokamaks), loses substantial energy as radiation and neutrons, and no reactor has achieved net energy profit from the system as a whole. Magnetic fields cannot contain neutral particles like neutrons, so this energy escapes into reactor walls, increasing costs and creating long-lived radioactive waste. Glenn's lab at Alabama A&M University produced a measurable, lab-scale spacetime distortion using a high-voltage electrostatic discharge (ESD) spark gap and laser interferometry, and demonstrated that the ESD device can deflect photons. ZC Institute has licensed this technology from Morningbird Space to apply it to deflecting neutrons and channeling them back into the fusion reaction, potentially making fusion not just stable but efficient, producing more energy than input. The testing at UAH will run Glenn's apparatus against neutron sources to assess if the effect holds up, with results expected this fall. If successful, this neutron-management approach could simplify fusion reactor designs and reduce damage to reactor walls, and could also support advanced space propulsion. ZC Institute founder Greg Hodgin emphasizes that they are the first fusion company trying to 'put the lid on' the energy losses. For more information, visit www.zcinstitute.com or www.morningbirdspace.com.