Firm a Leader in Setting Pace

Fusion research in San Diego dates back to July 18, 1955, when General Dynamics founded a locally based research division called General Atomic. The new division’s charge was open-ended: develop peaceful uses for atomic energy.

General Dynamics founder John Jay Hopkins appointed Frederic de Hoffmann as the division’s first general manager. De Hoffmann’s storied scientific career included a subsequent 18-year stint as president of the prestigious Salk Institute.

De Hoffmann, who died in 1989, convened a brainstorming session in San Diego that drew doz ens of scientists, including a sprinkling of Nobel Prize winners. That summer-long session helped to set the company’s research and development agenda.

De Hoffmann at first operated out of an empty building at the Barnard Elementary School in Point Loma with a staff of 30.

The company, which subsequently changed its name to General Atomics, moved to its campus-like complex in Torrey Pines in 1956, General Atomics spokesman Doug Fouquet said.

With the entire universe of atomic energy to choose from, General Atomics’ small cadre of employees eventually focused on three areas that remain its core businesses today: fusion energy research, the development of a gas-cooled nuclear reactor and the construction of small research reactors.

General Atomics built its first fusion research reactor, or tokamak, in the mid-1950s. It stood “just 1-foot tall, and cost $250,000,” said General Atomics Vice President David Overskei.

That small vessel now sits in an exhibition area at General Atomics’ Sorrento Valley research facility, which is home to a $400-million fusion research operation.

The company’s newest tokamak, which is one of the world’s six largest and most advanced research vessels, is 20 feet tall and reaches performance levels that are “500,000 times higher than the original,” Overskei said.

General Atomics now has 200 employees involved in fusion research.

General Atomics’ fusion research, which is largely funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, seeks to solve the “huge problems” that are created by the intense heat needed to produce fusion energy, Overskei said.

Although scientists at General Atomics would like to have the tokamak in operation for up to 40 weeks a year, funding shortfalls limit “everything being turned on to 16 weeks a year,” Overskei said.

General Atomics’ researchers expect to reap extensive benefits from their close involvement with the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, research program that will be in San Diego.

General Atomics is now a privately held company that is owned by the Blue family. Neal Blue is General Atomics’ chairman. His brother, Linden, is vice chairman.

The company has about 1,500 employees.