View from inside the OMEGA target chamber during a direct-drive inertial fusion experiment at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, which is leading a new multi-institutional inertial fusion energy hub funded by the US Department of Energy. [Image: University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics / Eugene Kowaluk]
The first successful fusion ignition, achieved late last year at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), USA, buoyed hopes that fusion could someday provide the world with abundant, reliable, clean energy. With the aim of building on that breakthrough and advancing inertial fusion energy system components, the US Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced US$42 million for the Inertial Fusion Energy Science and Technology Accelerated Research (IFE-STAR) program. The funding will be used to establish three hubs that bring together fusion-related expertise and capabilities from national laboratories, academic institutions and industry.
“Harnessing fusion energy is one of the greatest scientific and technological challenges of the 21st century,” said US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “We now have the confidence that it’s not only possible, but probable, that fusion energy can be a reality. The scientists in these hubs will be the vanguard of game-changing and planet-saving breakthroughs.”
Public-private advantage
The hubs were selected through a competitive peer review process, and a DOE review panel evaluated numerous proposals before awarding the funds. The centers will be led by scientists at Colorado State University, the University of Rochester and LLNL. But all of the winning projects have team members from private companies, universities and national labs, underscoring the value of a multi-institutional, public-private approach.
Increased interest in laser fusion from the private sector has been a crucial factor in pushing the science forward. The IFE-STAR program represents a complement to DOE’s Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program, in which companies led the applicant teams. The milestone program’s eight winning companies, announced in May 2023, will share US$46 million in funding to resolve challenges to creating a fusion pilot plant within five to 10 years.
Increased interest in laser fusion from the private sector has been a crucial factor in pushing the science forward.
“To commercialize fusion energy, public-private partnerships are indispensable,” said Georg Korn, chief technology officer of Germany-based Marvel Fusion, which is part of the hub at Colorado State. A number of different corporate firms are participating, including Xcimer Energy Corp., General Atomics, Focused Energy, TRUMPF, Leonardo Electronics US Inc., Longview Fusion Energy Systems and Ergodic LLC.
A look at the hubs
Each of the centers will have its own research focus. The Colorado State–led project, known as RISE, aims to combine innovative target concepts with new developments in excimer gas lasers and solid-state laser drivers to open up novel IFE regimes, according to a press release from the university. The creation of RISE comes on the heels of Colorado State’s recently announced partnership with hub member Marvel Fusion to build a US$150 million new laser facility at the university’s campus; the company, founded in Munich, Germany, in 2019, has established a Colorado-based subsidiary to support the collaboration.
STARFIRE (Science and Technology Accelerated Research for Fusion Innovation and Reactor Engineering) at LLNL will look to accelerate demonstration of high-gain target designs, targeting manufacturing and engagement and diode-pumped solid-state laser technologies. Xcimer noted that it will be working with STARFIRE on IFE chamber and balance of plant design, while General Atomics will develop high-resolution additive manufacturing systems for IFE foam target components.
The University of Rochester will lead IFE-COLoR, short for “Inertial Fusion Energy-Consortium on LPI (laser-plasma interaction) Research.” According to the university, it will focus on developing a broad-bandwidth, direct-drive IFE laser system by delivering a novel broadband long-pulse laser that is predicted to mitigate laser-plasma instabilities. In addition to Xcimer, IFE-COLoR will have participation from machine-learning company Ergodic LLC.
The future of fusion
The research done should help illuminate which approaches to fusion energy could be the most promising for commercialization.
The funding, US$16 million each for RISE and STARFIRE and US$10 million for IFE-COLoR, will be provided to the groups over the course of the next four years. The research done should help illuminate which approaches to fusion energy could be the most promising for commercialization, and support the presidential goal of demonstrating a proof of concept for several different types of fusion power plants by 2032.
“We are tremendously excited to be working with these distinguished institutions to advance the development of inertial fusion technologies and start the next generation of publicly funded IFE research in the United States,” stated Conner Galloway, CEO and cofounder of Xcimer, the only company selected to be part of all three hubs. “This work funded by DOE FES [Office of Fusion Energy Sciences] will accelerate public-private partnerships and lay the groundwork for the future of IFE.”