Australian company HB11 Energy, which has received a $6 million government grant and $16 million in contributions from partners, is proposing an alternative reactor design that involves a modestly sized fuel pellet made up of hydrogen and boron-11, held in the centre of a largely empty metal sphere with apertures on different sides for two lasers. One laser establishes the magnetic containment field for the plasma, while the second laser triggers an avalanche fusion chain reaction. Unlike other nuclear fusion technologies, the HB11 concept will directly generate electricity with no steam turbines required.

The use of lasers in nuclear fusion is not new, but in 2022, HB11 demonstrated that its hydrogen-boron energy technology is 4 orders of magnitude away from achieving net energy gain when catalysed by a laser.