US DOE Unveils Strategy to Achieve Commercial Fusion

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has released an action plan to realize the commercial-scale deployment of fusion energy.

The Fusion Energy Strategy is part of efforts under the Biden Administration’s Bold Decadal Vision for Commercial Fusion Energy, unveiled April 2022.

The strategy is organized around three stepping stones. The first aims to close knowledge and technology gaps in the design and building of a commercially scalable pilot fusion plant. The second aims to resolve financial, security and social risks that could hinder commercial deployment. The third seeks to build international partnerships.

Before 2040, the U.S. should have pilot fusion plants. In the 2040s, commercial deployment should already be underway, the strategy envisions.

“We will leverage the opportunities enabled by our world-leading public and private fusion leadership, including humanity’s first-ever demonstration of fusion ignition at our National Ignition Facility as well as major new advances in technologies such as high-temperature superconductors, advanced materials, and artificial intelligence to accelerate fusion energy”, Energy Deputy Secretary David Turk said in a statement issued by the DOE.

“The development of fusion energy as a clean, safe, abundant energy source has become a global race, and the U.S. will stay in the lead”.

The National Ignition Facility, under the state-run Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), had for decades been aiming to achieve a self-sustaining nuclear fusion in which the mass lost in the reaction could be converted into large amounts of energy, a state of energy breakeven called ignition. On December 13, 2022, the LLNL announced a breakthrough saying an experiment it had conducted earlier that month achieved ignition, “meaning it produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it”.

Simultaneous with the release of the strategy, the DOE launched the Fusion Innovative Research Engine (FIRE) Collaboratives. This $180 million funding will help with the first stepping stone in the strategy.

“The FIRE Collaboratives are aimed at supporting the further creation of a fusion innovation ecosystem by forming teams that will have a collective goal of bridging the Department’s Fusion Energy Sciences program’s foundational and enabling science research with the needs of the growing fusion industry, including the technology roadmaps of the awardees of the Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program”, the DOE statement said. “These Collaboratives are envisioned as dynamic hubs of innovation to help bolster US-based manufacturing and supply chains, driving advancements in fusion energy research in collaboration with both public and private entities”.

In May 2023, under the Milestone program, the DOE announced $46 million in funding for eight local companies seeking to bring about fusion energy plants: Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Focused Energy Inc., Princeton Stellarators Inc., Realta Fusion Inc., Tokamak Energy Inc., Type One Energy Group, Xcimer Energy Inc. and Zap Energy Inc.

For the second stepping stone, the DOE said it has already started addressing risks related to human and environmental safety, community acceptance and nuclear weapons proliferation, among others. 

For the third stepping stone, the U.S. has already forged cooperation pacts with Japan and the United Kingdom on achieving commercial fusion through research and development projects, as well as the international harmonization of regulatory frameworks.

The DOE has now also opened a request for public input for a proposed public-private consortium for achieving commercial fusion.

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