MON AM News: Realta Fusion publishes research on fusion breakthroughs; Evers signs bill creating new certification for APRNs

August 11, 2025

— Realta Fusion and research partners at UW-Madison are aiming to publish an early design for a commercial-scale fusion energy pilot device next year.

The Madison-based startup and partners at the university recently issued two studies detailing breakthroughs made by the company’s computational physics team.

These scientists have developed a unique software toolkit that will support further development of Realta Fusion’s CoSMo fusion systems, according to the announcement.

In one of the scientific papers, team leader Sam Frank demonstrated a “commercially viable energy gain” by the company’s specialized tandem magnetic mirror system. The startup’s findings show its system is on par with models for conventional confinement structures, the release notes.

The announcement references the “long-held opinion of many of the world’s leading plasma physicists that the magnetic mirror could be the most commercially relevant” way to approach fusion energy production.

The second recent paper from Realta Fusion was authored by Aaron Tran, a research associate in the university’s physics department. It used the same toolkit, showing it can identify and manage instabilities that have been seen as a possible hurdle for the magnetic mirror approach that Realta Fusion is advancing.

While this specific form of plasma instability has previously been difficult to model, the toolkit enables this step and supports potential engineering fixes. The tools for modeling such instability didn’t exist, “so we built them ourselves,” Frank said.

“This helps us better understand specific issues like plasma instability,” he said in a statement. “We have to understand instabilities so we can chase them down and stop them in their tracks. We cannot be afraid of them, ignore them, and hope that they go away.”

These research findings will be used in a coming paper that will lay out the full pre-conceptual design for a pilot fusion device called Hammir. It’s expected to be published in 2026.

Derek Sutherland, vice president of research and development for the startup, says the work laid out in the studies “represents a significant advancement” toward designing a pilot plant. The company is currently working on further optimizing its design to improve energy yield, he siad.

“These computational tools we’re developing are being validated against our experimental data, which gives us confidence in using them to design our next-stage devices,” he said. “Our tools are being grounded in reality, as they should be.”

The latest development comes after the company in May announced it had raised a $36 million funding round for its commercialization efforts.

See the release.

— Gov. Tony Evers has signed legislation creating a new certification for advanced practice registered nurses that will allow them to practice independently of a physician after meeting certain benchmarks.

Evers vetoed similar versions of the bill in each of the past two sessions. But proponents made several changes, including a minimum number of hours worked in a clinic before an APRN would no longer have to consult with a physician.

The Wisconsin Medical Society had opposed the legislation in past sessions, but was neutral on the new version.

According to a memo from the Legislative Reference Bureau, the changes in the new version include:

Requiring 3,840 hours of professional nursing in a clinical setting before an APRN no longer has to collaborate with a physician.
Requiring continued collaboration with a physician for pain management services.
Limiting those licensed by the Board of Nursing from using certain titles. That includes barring those who hold a doctorate from using the title “doctor” unless they specify the field in which the degree was earned.

In announcing the signing Friday, the guv’s office noted some have estimated that approximately 8,000 registered nurses in Wisconsin could qualify as APRNs.

It was one of several health care-related bills that Evers signed Friday.

Others included:

SB 14, which requires hospitals to ensure written informed consent is obtained from a patient before a pelvic examination is performed on the patient solely for educational purposes while the patient is under general anesthesia or otherwise unconscious.
SB 31, which provides legal protections for physician assistants and advanced practice nurse prescribers who aren’t employed by a local health department, but provide services without compensation.
SB 43, which authorizes advanced practice nurse prescribers to pronounce the date, time, and place of a patient’s death for a death record.
SB 98, which allows a health care cooperative to convert into a service insurance corporation.
AB 45, enters Wisconsin into the Dietitian Licensure Compact, allowing dietitians to practice in member states.

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

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— Evers also vetoed five GOP-authored bills, including one that sought to create portable benefits for gig workers at companies such as Uber and DoorDash.

AB 269 also sought to exempt delivery drivers who provide services through a digital network from minimum wage, unemployment insurance and worker’s compensation laws if certain conditions are met.

Evers wrote in his veto message he objected to the bill’s definition of an independent contractor in the absence of guaranteed benefits for workers. Such a change is a “serious endeavor” that requires “substantive conversations” including management and workers. But he accused lawmakers of ignoring calls for a more robust dialogue.

“I am open to finding a pathway to portable benefits; however, such a solution must be thoughtful, benefit workers, and be created through a process in which workers and management have the opportunity to participate, collaborate, and reach agreement,” Evers wrote in the veto message. “My veto today will allow time for these important conversations to occur so Wisconsin can find a path forward.”

GOP co-authors Sen. Julian Bradley and Rep. Alex Dallman ripped the move, saying it blocks providing basic benefits to more than 100,000 Wisconsinites.

“Governor Evers just told over 100,000 Wisconsinites that they don’t matter,” said Bradley, R-Franklin.

In addition to their statement, Dallman posted on X that neither the guv nor his office reached out to the Markesan Republican. “Can Democrats ever be honest?” he added.

An Evers spokesperson said the guv’s office spoke with GOP leadership.

Evers’ move came despite a significant lobbying effort by DoorDash Inc. over the first six months of 2025. WisPolitics reported last week the company spent nearly $1.4 million to influence the Capitol over that period, a nearly 10-fold increase over what it had spent over the previous two years.

See details on the other bills Evers signed Friday from WisPolitics.

— Sen. Dora Drake is slamming Walgreens and Pick ‘n Save for “corporate abandonment” as they shut down stores in southeastern Wisconsin.

In a release Friday, the Milwaukee Dem said the Wisconsin Legislative Black Caucus is standing with local residents and leaders following a “wave” of grocery store and pharmacy closures in Milwaukee and elsewhere.

Walgreens has reportedly closed three pharmacies and two stores in the region this summer, while Pick ‘n Save is closing at least five stores in the Milwaukee area.

Drake says the closures are a “tragedy” for locals, taking away access to food and medications even as the cost of groceries, transportation and more keeps rising.

“Businesses in our community must address the challenges their sudden departure creates,” she said in a statement. “It is unconscionable that a corporation our community supported for years would fail to engage in community transition planning, fail to maintain public transparency, and fail to make direct investments to address the gaps they leave behind.”

Drake is also praising the work of Metcalfe Park Community Bridges and the Hunger Task Force along with “so many others” working to help the community amid the closures.

The two companies named in Drake’s release didn’t respond to requests for comment over the weekend.

See the release.

Final day of Wisconsin State Fair canceled due to Aug. 10 storms

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