A Vision for Public-Private-Community Partnerships for Fusion Energy Development

Fusion energy researchers and policymakers in the US and globally are working towards rapidly commercialization. This potential commercialization and use at scale of fusion energy presents a fortuitous opportunity to reimagine the energy technology design and development process. Historically, energy technology development – across the life cycle – has created significant inequities – be they in the form of negative impacts to communities hosting extractive and waste management facilities or the lack of consultation and engagement with communities prior to siting a facility. In extreme cases, these missteps made by energy technology developers have engendered mistrust and a negative public

perception of these technologies (nuclear fission being an example of this phenomenon.) Given the significant socioeconomic and environmental impact of energy technologies, communities across the country that are likely to host these technologies are increasingly expressing a desire to have say in how these facilities are designed and fusion energy researchers too recognize the importance of social license [1]. How might fusion energy developers who are designing these technologies do so with community priorities in mind? And how might the designers of these technologies engage withcommunities who might one day host these energy facilities? To these questions, I offer some answers by drawing on both research and teaching initiatives underway at the University of Michigan [2,3,4]. Specifically, I share a range of participatory tools, methods, and frameworks for facilitating community-engaged design as well as the initial outcomes of this work – including perspectives from both community participants and students. In concluding this talk, I offer some propositions for how these tools can be applied at scale by reimagining public-private-community partnerships.