TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 6, 2026--
Helical Fusion Co., Ltd. (“Helical Fusion”), a Japan-based fusion energy startup developing fusion power plants, and HAZAMA ANDO CORPORATION (“HAZAMA ANDO”), a long-established Japanese general contractor, today announced that HAZAMA ANDO has become an Official Partner in the Helix Program, Helical Fusion’s commercial fusion initiative. The two companies have also signed a memorandum of understanding (“MoU”) to collaborate toward the construction of Helix KANATA, Helical Fusion’s Fusion Pilot Plant targeted for the 2030s.
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Fusion energy has the potential to shift the foundation of energy from natural resources to advanced technology by reproducing, on Earth, the same principle that powers the stars. It is expected to create a major new industry while providing a long-term solution to global energy challenges. Helical Fusion is advancing the Helical Stellarator approach, a magnetic-confinement fusion concept supported by approximately 70 years of research at national universities and public research institutes. The approach is considered well suited to commercial power plants because it offers a clear pathway to continuous operation, net electricity generation, and maintainability.
Helical Fusion established the Official Partner framework in April 2026 to accelerate the Helix Program, its roadmap to realize commercially viable fusion power in the 2030s. The next decade will be a critical period in which core technologies and industrial capabilities for future fusion power plants move from research and development toward integrated engineering and construction.
HAZAMA ANDO has delivered construction projects for power-related facilities and other social infrastructure that support stable electricity supply. Through this MoU, the two companies will examine construction-related requirements and project execution approaches for future fusion power facilities, including “Helix KANATA”, the Fusion Pilot Plant. HAZAMA ANDO’s participation as an Official Partner is expected to strengthen the industrial foundation.
Under the shared message “Creating a New Sun for Our Horizon,” Helical Fusion and HAZAMA ANDO will work together to build the foundations of a fusion energy industry.
Executive Comments
Kazuhiko Kuniya, Representative Director and President, HAZAMA ANDO CORPORATION
"We are deeply honored to join as an official partner of the 'Helix Program'.
As a construction company dedicated to developing social infrastructure, HAZAMA ANDO has undertaken numerous power and energy projects aimed at ensuring a stable energy supply. We will leverage the expertise and technology we have cultivated over the years to contribute to the realization of fusion energy.
We will build collaborative relationships with Helical Fusion, to create new value together and work toward realizing a prosperous future."
Takaya Taguchi, Co-Founder and CEO, Helical Fusion Co., Ltd.
"The goal of the Helix Program is not only to realize a commercial fusion power, but also to bring humanity a new source of energy that can sustain civilization for generations to come.
For more than a century, our new partner has supported lives and industries in Japan and around the world through its construction and engineering expertise. I am confident that by joining forces with this outstanding team, we can help advance society through fusion energy.
We are deeply grateful to walk alongside our new partner as we take on this grand challenge—one that has the potential to shape the course of human history.
As a first step, our two companies will work closely together toward the construction of Helix HARUKA, our Integrated Demonstration Device, and Helix KANATA, our fusion pilot plant."
About the Helix Program
The Helix Program is Helical Fusion’s roadmap to realize commercially viable fusion power using the Helical Stellarator. Helical Fusion is one of the few private companies applying the long-standing research base of this approach to the commercialization of fusion energy. In May 2023, the company published a peer-reviewed paper outlining the design of its power plant concept: “Development of steady-state fusion reactor by Helical Fusion,” by J. Miyazawa et al., in Physics of Plasmas.
Under the Helix Program, the company plans to conduct integrated demonstration using Helix HARUKA and achieve commercially viable fusion power generation using Helix KANATA in the 2030s.
Development of key components for Helix HARUKA is steadily progressing with the support of industrial partners.
About the Official Partner Framework
The Official Partner framework is designed for companies that will work with Helical Fusion to actively advance the Helix Program, which aims to achieve commercially viable fusion power. Official Partners engage in strategic business and technical collaboration and make capital commitments above a defined threshold, sharing the commitment required to create a new fusion energy industry.
Official Partners will collaborate on initiatives related to the manufacturing and construction of Helix HARUKA, Helical Fusion’s Integrated Demonstration Device, and Helix KANATA, its Fusion Pilot Plant. The framework was launched in April 2026, with NICHIAS Corporation, Hasetora Spinning Co., Ltd., and Seno Kisen Co., Ltd. joining as the first group of partners.
About HAZAMA ANDO CORPORATION
HAZAMA ANDO CORPORATION is a general construction company that focuses primarily on civil engineering and building construction. Leveraging the technical expertise we have cultivated over many years and our advanced construction management methods, we deliver safe, high-quality projects. By creating new value, we aim to realize a sustainable society where people can live with peace of mind and comfort, and to grow alongside society as a company.
About Helical Fusion Co., Ltd.
Helical Fusion is a fusion energy startup founded in 2021 as a spin-out leveraging research achievements from the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS), a leading Japanese public research institute in helical stellarator research. NIFS has accumulated world-class expertise through the Large Helical Device (LHD), including plasma sustainment for 3,268 seconds, plasma temperatures exceeding 100 million degrees Celsius, and stable plasma control technologies essential for continuous operation.
Helical Fusion is developing a Helical Stellarator and advancing the Helix Program with the aim of realizing commercially viable fusion power.
Image of Helix KANATA, Helical Fusion’s Fusion Pilot Plant planned to begin operation in the 2030s.
(L-R) Kazuhiko Kuniya (Representative Director and President, HAZAMA ANDO CORPORATION) and Takaya Taguchi (Co-Founder and CEO, Helical Fusion Co., Ltd.) at a press conference in Tokyo on July 6, 2026.
A weeklong preliminary hearing for the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk is set to get underway on Monday. Prosecutors will aim to show that they have enough evidence against 23-year-old Tyler Robinson to proceed to a trial. The hearing marks the most significant presentation of evidence in the case so far. After the hearing concludes, state District Judge Tony Graf must determine if the case should proceed.
Robinson is charged with aggravated murder in the assassination of Kirk on the Utah Valley University campus last September. Kirk’s parents and his widow, Erika Kirk, will attend the hearing, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. It is the first time Kirk’s family will be in the courtroom with the man accused of killing him.
Here's the latest:
Erika Kirk has arrived at the Utah courthouse for the preliminary hearing of the man accused of killing her husband, Charlie Kirk.
Three men escorted her into the building several minutes before the hearing was expected to begin.
Charlie Kirk’s parents, Robert and Kathryn Kirk, arrived separately.
Armed officers with binoculars are on the roof of the courthouse where Tyler Robinson faces a key hearing in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk.
More officers are on the ground outside the courthouse. A drone was also flying overhead. Robinson’s defense team arrived at Utah County court with a dolly to move boxes of documents.
The focus of the hearing is whether there’s enough evidence to send Robinson to trial and whether the death penalty will be an option if there’s a conviction.
Shelly Juber, who lives nearby in Orem, got one of the 14 courtroom seats set aside for the public.
“I’m a trial watcher, true-crime enthusiast. … My grandson’s girlfriend was there the day it happened,” she said, referring to Utah Valley University.
For Tyler Robinson to be found guilty at trial, prosecutors will have to prove without any reasonable doubt that he killed Kirk. But the criteria for this week’s preliminary hearing are less strict.
Mark Kouris, who was a prosecutor and state judge in Salt Lake City, says there’s a low threshold for prosecutors to show the case against Robinson should proceed to trial.
“Effectively, it’s 51% — there’s a 51% chance they did it,” Kouris, now an adjunct professor at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law, said in an interview. “This standard is extremely low, and the chances of them not getting through it are, quite frankly, almost nothing.”
Charlie Kirk’s family thanked supporters for their kindness and prayers ahead of Monday’s preliminary hearing.
“Every court proceeding serves as a painful reminder of his death,” Erika Kirk, his widow, said in a statement posted on X, “and the loss that has irrevocably impacted our lives and the lives of his children.”
She added that the public outpouring “has sustained us during the darkest days of our lives.”
The statement was posted on behalf of Kirk’s parents, Robert and Kathryn, his widow and his sister Mary.
“Out of respect for the judicial process, we will not be commenting further at this time,” the brief statement said.
Erika Kirk forgave defendant Tyler Robinson during her husband’s memorial service in September.
“My husband, Charlie, he wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life,” she said as she struggled to hold back tears.
“I forgive him because it was what Christ did. It is what Charlie would do,” she added.
Her declaration was an outlier among prominent conservatives, including President Donald Trump, who said in September on Fox News that he hopes Robinson gets the death penalty.
Erika Kirk took the helm of Turning Point USA, the conservative youth movement that her husband co-founded, shortly after her husband’s death.
She is expected in court throughout the week with her husband’s parents, Robert and Kathryn Kirk, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
State District Judge Tony Graf said recently that prosecutors violated his restrictions on talking outside the courtroom when Deputy Utah County Attorney Christopher Ballard told a media outlet his office had ample evidence to convict Tyler Robinson of killing Charlie Kirk.
Robinson’s lawyers argued the comments were intended to influence potential jurors. As a punishment, they wanted the judge to block prosecutors from seeking the death penalty.
But Graf said that was too severe, and that Ballard's comments weren’t malicious.
The judge said any potential bias issues could be addressed by expanding the jury pool or more closely questioning potential jurors when the case goes to trial.
Starting with today’s hearing, the focus of the case shifts to whether there is enough evidence for a trial and whether the death penalty is warranted, said Paul Cassell, a University of Utah law professor and former federal judge.
Cassell said evidence made public to date in court filings suggests prosecutors have “an overwhelming case.”
“This seems like the proverbial slam dunk at this stage of the case, where the only issue is whether there is a sound basis for moving forward with a trial on the merits,” he said.
A death sentence is an option in Utah only when a crime has aggravating circumstances. Prosecutors will argue in Robinson’s case that Kirk’s shooting endangered others in attendance.
Authorities have said DNA consistent with Robinson’s was found on the trigger of the rifle used to kill Kirk, the fired cartridge casing, two unfired cartridges and a towel used to wrap the rifle.
Robinson’s parents had confronted him after authorities released a surveillance photo of the suspect and details about the rifle, authorities have said. His parents convinced him to meet with a family friend, a retired sheriff’s deputy who reportedly helped arrange for Robinson to turn himself in.
Prosecutors have said Robinson left a note for his roommate, who was also his romantic partner, that read: “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.” They also said he wrote to his roommate in a text message about Kirk: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”
Defense attorneys unsuccessfully sought to block prosecutors from using recorded statements from Robinson’s roommate during the hearing. The defense wanted the roommate to testify in person so Robinson could exercise his right to challenge the credibility of witnesses against him. Graf said the time for challenging witnesses would come later.
The proceeding will resemble a mini-trial, with prosecutors planning to offer DNA evidence linking Robinson to the suspected murder weapon, testimony from investigators, autopsy findings, witness statements and video of Kirk’s killing. They are not required to present all their evidence and can use secondhand information or hearsay.
After the hearing concludes, state District Judge Tony Graf must determine if the case should proceed.
Prosecutors need only demonstrate that there are reasonable grounds to believe Robinson killed Kirk. The standard is lower than for a trial, where prosecutors have to prove guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Charlie Kirk’s widow and parents are expected this week in a Utah court where prosecutors seeking the death penalty will argue that the man charged with killing the conservative activist should stand trial for murder.
The five-day preliminary hearing that starts today will be the first time members of Kirk’s family are in the Utah courtroom with defendant Tyler Robinson. The hearing will be livestreamed.
Robinson turned himself in after the shooting. Prosecutors allege that he also sent a text message confession to his partner and left a note saying he had an opportunity to kill one of the nation’s leading conservative voices, “and I’m going to take it.”
He has not entered a plea in the case, however.
Robinson, 23, is charged with aggravated murder in the Sept. 10 assassination of Kirk, who was addressing a crowd of thousands at Utah Valley University. His attorneys have not commented on his guilt or innocence.
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FILE - A well-wisher places flowers at a makeshift memorial set up for Charlie Kirk at Turning Point USA headquarters, Sept. 11, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
FILE - Charlie Kirk hands out hats before speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Sept. 10, 2025. (Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP, File)
