Avalanche Energy Designs Inc. and the Tri-City Development Council announced Thursday they are advancing plans for what would be the Seattle-based fusion startup's first global advanced manufacturing facility, to be built in the Tri-Cities region, according to a GlobeNewswire release.
The goal, TRIDEC and Avalanche said, is to build a world-class advanced manufacturing center that creates hundreds of long-term jobs and positions the Tri-Cities and Washington state as a global hub for fusion technology, according to a copy of the release carried by the Manila Times. The companies say the plant is expected to generate billions of dollars in annual economic output once production scales up, and that access to regional rail and barge networks would let Avalanche ship its fusion machines to customers across North America and overseas.
The plant would operate near FusionWERX, Avalanche's existing research and development site in Richland, "creating a unique connection between research, development, prototyping and commercial manufacturing," the release states. Avalanche is developing modular fusion power machines aimed at scalable clean-energy use, with target output capacities of 100 kilowatts and 5 megawatts, the company said.
Years in the making
Thursday's announcement is the latest step in a relationship that TRIDEC President and CEO Karl Dye said "is the result of years of relationship-building," according to the release carried by Middletown Life Magazine. Avalanche first signaled interest in the region when it sought to lease Port of Benton property at 2345 Stevens Drive, according to the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.
That lease led to FusionWERX, Avalanche's research and test facility in north Richland, which the Port of Benton's executive director, Diahann Howard, said at the time would help "advance our state's energy goals," according to the Journal of Business. In July 2025, the company landed a $10 million grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce's Green Jobs Grant Program to help launch what it called a first-of-its-kind fusion neutron factory, GeekWire reported.
Avalanche's chief executive said the company sees the Tri-Cities becoming "much more than the place where Avalanche manufactures its fusion machines," according to the release carried by Middletown Life Magazine, describing a future where fusion technology is "researched, engineered, built and ultimately deployed around the world" from the region.
What hasn't been announced
The companies did not release a site address, acreage, construction timeline or specific job and wage figures Thursday. TRIDEC and Avalanche said they will work together going forward on permitting roadmaps, infrastructure readiness, supply-chain development and workforce pipelines, according to the release, but it's unclear whether that means a signed lease, a formal agreement or something less binding.
It's also not yet known whether the project will seek local or state tax incentives — a question that has shadowed other large industrial proposals in Richland, including Framatome's bid for a business tax break tied to its nuclear fuel plant expansion. The Tri-Cities has drawn a string of energy-sector investment announcements in recent months, from a Bonneville Power Administration study tied to a proposed $3 billion nuclear fuel plant to a contested data center zoning request in West Richland — both previously covered by Tri-Cities Today.
Avalanche and FusionWERX join a small but growing cluster of fusion-related companies with Washington ties, including Seattle-based ExoFusion and Kyoto Fusioneering, part of what Axios has described as an emerging fusion hub in the region.
Neither TRIDEC nor Avalanche has set a date for a groundbreaking or public hearing on the manufacturing plant. Residents looking for updates on permitting or incentive requests can watch upcoming Port of Benton and Richland City Council agendas, where any land-use or tax questions tied to the project would likely first surface.
