TOKYO - Japanese start-up Helical Fusion aims to launch the world's first steady-state nuclear fusion reactor in 2034 and to begin commercial operations in the 2040s, its CEO told Reuters.

Despite global efforts to harness fusion, the reaction that powers the sun, to produce emissions-free power, 70 years of research have yet to produce a commercially viable reactor.

"We aim to have the world's first steady-state fusion reactor up and generating electricity within the next 10 years," Helical Fusion CEO Takaya Taguchi said in an interview.

"If successful, Japan, an energy importer, could produce its own energy and even export it, greatly enhancing Japan's energy security," said Taguchi, who worked for banks before co-founding Helical Fusion with two scientists from Japan's National Institute for Fusion Science in 2021.

Fusion can be replicated on Earth by using lasers or magnets to fuse two light atoms into a denser one, releasing energy.

Helical Fusion plans to build the pilot reactor, using the helical-method, a magnetic approach, with a generation capacity of 50-100 megawatts.

"If we run the pilot reactor starting in 2034 for a few years ... we could begin building a commercial reactor and have it operational in around 2040 at the earliest," said Taguchi.

"Japan has already invested some 400 billion yen ($2.8 billion) in research at NIFS and we plan to leverage and commercialize fusion," Taguchi added this month.

Japan's NIFS owns one of the world's largest fusion experimental facilities, which has achieved 100 million degrees Celsius and plasma durations over 3,000 seconds.

For decades, scientists have struggled to generate more energy from a fusion reaction than is required to heat the fuel to more than 100 million Celsius.

Taguchi said significant challenges remain, including raising 1 trillion yen to build the pilot reactor, developing high-temperature superconductivity technology for coils, and establishing safety rules to gain local construction approval. ($1 = 144.9500 yen)

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Alexander Smith)