THU AM News: Realta Fusion could build first fusion energy plant within a decade, spokesperson says; Evers urging USDA to reverse reported plans on Argentina beef

October 30, 2025

— Madison-based Realta Fusion could build its first energy-producing fusion plant within 10 years, though the path ahead has some challenges.

Robb Hughes, head of external affairs for the UW-Madison nuclear energy spinoff company, discussed this timeline during this week’s Wisconsin Energy Institute panel. He said the cost for energy produced by such a system would initially be “really high” due to it being a first-of-its-kind system. But over time, later iterations of these systems would be much more cost-competitive, he said.

“That cost never goes up, right, just keep building machines and all these prices just continue to go down the longer we exist,” he said. “That’s the hope at least.”

Still, he added the nuclear field advancing in this way isn’t inevitable, noting Realta Fusion alone will need to raise about $2 billion before it’s up and running. When looking at the global industry, that figure rises into the tens of billions, he said.

Meanwhile, external factors like availability of supply chain partners and skilled workers will also determine the future of this industry in Wisconsin, according to Hughes.

“Right now, the workforce for fusion is a lot of egghead plasma physicists and nuclear engineers, who I love, they’re wonderful. But in 10 years that’s going to be machinists and welders and plumbers and pipefitters,” he said. “We need to retrain people to do these kinds of activities … so that when we pop up in 10 years with what we hope is the world’s best fusion reactor, we have people to work at it.”

That’s just as important for the other companies needed to build specialized parts for the fusion projects Realta Fusion envisions, he added.

Hughes argued building the hardware needed for fusion power production is how “we can get this country back to making machines.” He said the Great Lakes region and Wisconsin in particular are uniquely positioned to support this type of manufacturing.

“It’s this huge opportunity for us to take advantage of this natural intellectual capital we have, and this history of building things in this state and supercharge that into the future,” he said.

This development is taking place against a backdrop of shifting public opinion, as historical fears about the dangers of nuclear accidents have waned in favor of renewed excitement about the technology. That’s according to Sen. Julian Bradley, R-Berlin, who chairs the Senate Committee on Utilities, Technology and Tourism.

“This is no longer a toxic or radioactive topic,” he said during the panel. “You can have a conversation and people don’t immediately worry about meltdown. They say, ‘Yeah that’s a good idea. We should be taking steps forward. We’d like to see our rates lowered.’”

Watch the video at WisconsinEye.

— Gov. Tony Evers is urging the head of the USDA to “immediately reverse” efforts to import more beef from Argentina, arguing for supporting domestic industries instead.

In a letter sent to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins yesterday, the Dem guv referenced reporting that the Trump administration plans to import as much as four times as much beef from Argentina while the U.S. beef cow herd is the smallest it’s ever been.

“At a time with reckless trade wars that are causing chaos and uncertainty for farmers and producers in Wisconsin and across our country, now is not the time to turn your back on them,” Evers wrote. “Now is the time to focus on supporting American farmers and producers and reinvest in our country’s agriculture industry, instead of subsidizing farmers halfway across the world.”

He notes U.S. farmers have struggled with multiple years of drought and other economic challenges, including members of Wisconsin’s $34 billion livestock and meat industry. Evers argues that “unnecessarily increasing imports” of beef would mean subsidizing other countries at the expense of American industries.

“Beef imports are already at an all-time high bringing in ample supply of needed products, such as lean trim, and we do not need to purchase more,” he wrote.

See the release and letter.

— UW Health is touting a new patient record for fiscal year 2025, with 867,185 people receiving care during that period.

The Madison-based health system yesterday announced the patient total between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, marking an increase from the prior fiscal year’s total of 832,300.

Of the latest fiscal year total, nearly 520,000 were patients at UW Health in Wisconsin, while about 180,000 were at the UW Health in northern Illinois. Another 170,000 or so were at UnityPoint Health – Meriter, which has a joint operating agreement with UW Health, and just over 1,300 were at UW Health Rehabilitation Hospital.

The health system also had more than 4 million outpatient appointments in the latest fiscal year, compared to around 3.8 million last fiscal year.

Dr. Peter Newcomer, chief operating officer for UW Health, says demand for care will only continue to grow.

“I’m proud to see that we’re finding innovative ways to see more patients at UW Health across specialties and locations,” he said in a statement.

UW Health also added at least 1,200 net new employees in fiscal year 2025, the release shows.

Meanwhile, for both University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority and UnityPoint Health – Meriter, operating revenue rose from $5.7 billion to $6.3 billion while operating expenses increased from $5.5 billion to $6.27 billion. The operating margin fell from 3.6% to 0.4%.

Bob Flannery, chief financial officer for the health system, says UW Health had a “solid” financial performance through the fiscal year.

“The financial results from this year reflect our deliberate investments to build capacity to better serve patients and improve access at UW Health,” he said.

See the release.

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— Madison startup DataChat has been acquired by Mews, which has an operating system for hospitality and other shared spaces, the company announced.

Integrating DataChat to the Mews platform will speed up development of AI and “semi-autonomous agents” within its system, according to the announcement.

Viken Eldemir, CEO of DataChat, says the company has built technology that “bridges the gap between human understanding and machine capability.” The release references DataChat’s patented data analytics and natural language processing frameworks.

“By combining conversational interfaces with automated data reasoning, we’re going to be building agents that understand intent, reason across data sources and act autonomously, which will bring an entirely new level of intelligence and personalization to hospitality,” Eldemir said. “This will mean Mews hoteliers can get answers to questions without having to run or interpret reports.”

Mews is based in Texas and currently has more than 12,500 customers across more than 85 countries. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

See more at Madison Startups.

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