Galvanizing Advances in Market-Aligned Fusion for an Overabundance of Watts



Status:
Active
Release Date:
Project Count:
14

Program Description:

The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and Office of Science–Fusion Energy Sciences (SC-FES) are overseeing a joint program, Galvanizing Advances in Market-aligned fusion for an Overabundance of Watts (GAMOW). ARPA-E will contribute up to $15 million in funding over a three-year program period, and FES will contribute up to $5 million per year for three years for qualifying technologies. GAMOW will prioritize R&D in (1) technologies and subsystems between the fusion plasma and balance of plant, (2) cost-effective, high-efficiency, high-duty-cycle driver technologies, and (3) cross-cutting areas such as novel fusion materials and advanced and additive manufacturing for fusion-relevant materials and components. Applicants should leverage and build on foundational SC-FES research programs in fusion materials, fusion nuclear science, plasma-materials interactions, and other enabling technologies, while ensuring that market-aware techno-economic analyses inform project goals.

Awardees must work toward one or more of the following high-level program objectives:

  • Demonstrate substantial progress toward technical feasibility and/or increases in performance compared to the current state of the art in the priority R&D areas.
  • Enable significant device simplification or elimination of entire subsystems of commercially motivated fusion energy systems.
  • Reduce fusion energy system costs, including those of critical materials and component testing.
  • Improve the reliability, safety, and/or environmental attractiveness of fusion energy systems.

Innovation Need:

For more than 60 years, fusion research and development has focused on attaining the required fuel density, temperature, and energy confinement time required for a viable fusion energy system. To date, relatively modest investments have been made in the enabling technologies and advanced materials needed to sustain a commercially attractive fusion energy system. However, further innovations and advances are required to establish fusion energy’s technical and commercial viability. The GAMOW program supports projects pursuing innovative R&D in fusion-energy subsystems and cross-cutting areas to enable commercially attractive fusion energy within the next several decades.

Potential Impact:

Successful development of fusion energy science and technology could lead to a safe, carbon-free, abundant energy source for developed and emerging economies.

Security:

The GAMOW program will further advance American leadership in fusion energy science and technology.

Environment:

Carbon-free energy generated by fusion would have far-reaching potential benefits to humanity.

Economy:

Progress in the areas emphasized in GAMOW will help further establish fusion energy’s technical and commercial viability within the next several decades.

Contact

Program Director:
Dr. Scott Hsu
Press and General Inquiries Email:
ARPA-E-Comms@hq.doe.gov

Project Listing

• Bridge 12 Technologies - High Efficiency, Megawatt-Class Gyrotrons for Instability Control of Burning-Plasma Machines
• Colorado School of Mines - Interfacial-Engineered Membranes for Efficient Tritium Extraction
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) - Fusion Energy Reactor Models Integrator (FERMI)
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) - Advance Castable Nanostructured Alloys for First-Wall/Blanket Applications
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) - Plasma-Facing Component Innovations by Advanced Manufacturing and Design
• Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) - Microstructure Optimization and Novel Processing Development of ODS Steels for Fusion Environments
• Phoenix - Application of Plasma-Window Technology to Enable an Ultra-High-Flux DT Neutron Source
• Princeton Fusion Systems - Wide-Bandgap Semiconductor Amplifiers for Plasma Heating and Control
• Savannah River National Laboratory - EM-Enhanced HyPOR Loop for Fast Fusion Fuel Cycles
• Savannah River National Laboratory - Process Intensification Scale-Up of Direct LiT Electrolysis
• Stony Brook University - ENHANCED Shield: A Critical Materials Technology Enabling Compact Superconducting Tokamaks
• University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - AMPERE - Advanced Materials for Plasma-Exposed Robust Electrodes
• University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) - Renewable low-Z wall for fusion reactors with built-in tritium recovery
• University of Houston - Advanced HTS Conductors Customized for Fusion