Accelerating the path to realizing Inertial Fusion Energy via an integrated national plan

To build the desired Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) ecosystem and accelerate IFE science and technology, partnerships between national laboratories, universities, the private sector, and multiple government agencies will be critical. Under the IFE-Science and Technology Accelerated Research (STAR) Hubs, we are developing a common national IFE strategic plan that supports all major IFE approaches. This plan will initially be guided by the IFE Hubs’ milestones and the priority research opportunities identified by the 2022 IFE Basic Research Needs report. We will present progress in developing an integrated national plan that will lay out the guideposts, milestones, and nominal timeline for the key IFE technologies that pave the way toward a first IFE pilot plant on the decadal timescale. This plan will allow the field to measure progress and help ensure simultaneous development across varied areas, while elucidating the linkages between the research and development tracks and ensuring feedback and interchange at the necessary points. This will help industrial partners, university researchers, and national laboratory scientists understand the common directions within IFE and most effectively use their resources to make rapid progress.

This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. DOE by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344, supported in part by DOE ECRP SCW1651 and FWP SCW1835-1. C.S.M. is supported by DOE DE-SC0024882 and FWP 0024882 IFE-STAR; D.H.F. is supported by DOE DE-SC0024863.