In December 2022, a team of researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL; Livermore, CA) announced they had achieved fusion ignition—also igniting hopes that fusion energy, a form of clean energy, can help save the planet.
The awards are part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science’s Innovation Network for Fusion Energy program, established in 2019 to speed fusion energy development through public-private research partnerships.
Ten projects will be led by researchers at seven private companies: Commonwealth Fusion Systems (Cambridge, MA); Energy Driven Technologies (Champaign, IL); Focused Energy (Austin, TX), General Atomics (San Diego, CA); Princeton Stellarators (Princeton, NJ); Tokamak Energy (Bruceton Mills, WV); and Type One Energy Group (Madison, WI).
The DOE and scientists around the globe were “elated when the team at Livermore delivered the news they had achieved fusion ignition, and we knew it was just the beginning,” says Jennifer M. Granholm, U.S. Secretary of Energy. “The companies and DOE scientists will build on advances from the National Labs with the entrepreneurial spirit of the private sector to advance our understanding of fusion.”
This effort will give these private companies access to expertise and capabilities available at DOE National Labs to address critical scientific and technological challenges in pursuit of fusion energy systems.
More details about fusion energy projects can be found at infuse.ornl.gov, science.osti.gov/fes, or lasers.llnl.gov.