Fact Sheet: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces More Than $180 Million to Advance Implementation of its Bold Decadal Vision for Commercial Fusion Energy

President Biden, through his Investing in America Agenda, is leading a historic shift to clean energy with the rapid buildout of carbon-free power sources, which are setting the United States on a path to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2050. Equally as important are the Biden-Harris Administration’s actions to support next-generation sources of clean energy—including fusion—that will provide U.S. workers the opportunity to build new technologies and position America to be energy leaders in the 21st century and beyond.

Fusion is the energy source that powers the sun and other stars—with the potential to power civilization safely and securely without greenhouse gases emissions. The United States has the world’s most vibrant fusion industry, with a majority of the world’s privately funded fusion companies and about 80% of the total global equity investments into these companies—enabled by decades of federal investment in fusion research. Further innovation and investments by the U.S. government and the private sector, while leveraging key international partnerships, will help solidify America’s global leadership in developing this abundant and game-changing clean energy industry of the future.

Today, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Department of Energy (DOE) are convening fusion energy leaders from the executive branch, Congress, industry, academia, and other stakeholder groups to highlight progress to date, discuss critical upcoming milestones to support success, and build momentum toward a pilot-scale fusion energy demonstration in the next decade.
 
The Biden-Harris Administration today is announcing a set of actions to accelerate a pilot-scale fusion energy demonstration and highlighting progress in the two years since the launch of the Administration’s Bold Decadal Vision for Commercial Fusion Energy.

Releasing a new DOE Fusion Energy Strategy and vision for its Fusion Energy Sciences program:
To help accelerate progress, DOE is announcing today the release of a new, agency-wide fusion energy strategy to accelerate the viability of commercial fusion energy in partnership with the private sector. Closely coordinated with this strategy, DOE is also releasing a new vision for the DOE Fusion Energy Sciences program entitled Building Bridges, which focuses on aggressively closing the science and technology gaps to a commercially relevant fusion pilot while supporting foundational research in fusion energy sciences and enabling technologies.

Announcing a new $180 million funding opportunity to address science and technology challenges associated with a fusion pilot plant:
DOE’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences is announcing a $180 million Funding Opportunity Announcement for new Fusion Innovation Research Engine (FIRE) Collaboratives. The FIRE Collaboratives will support teams working to close key science and technology gaps to a commercially relevant fusion pilot plant, while bridging foundational research and enabling technologies to the needs of the growing U.S. fusion industry.
 
Kick-starting public-private partnerships for research and development to enable viable designs for fusion pilot plants:
DOE is announcing signed agreements for all eight selectees of its Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program. The program will provide up to $46 million for public-private partnerships between DOE and eight fusion companies for the first 18 months of a five-year program to advance designs and research and development for private-sector-led fusion pilot plants. Companies with completed agreements today include:

• Commonwealth Fusion Systems
• Focused Energy
• Thea Energy
• Realta Fusion
• Tokamak Energy
• Type One Energy Group
• Xcimer Energy
• Zap Energy

Releasing a request for information (RFI) on a proposed fusion energy public-private consortium framework:
Looking to the future of new public-private partnerships, DOE is releasing an RFI on a proposed fusion energy public-private consortium that aims to amplify federal funding by catalyzing and bringing together state and local government, private, and philanthropic funding to accelerate fusion energy research and development, as well as future demonstration and deployment, in a manner with the potential to meet the timelines of the Bold Decadal Vision.

These announcements build upon a wide range of actions the Biden-Harris Administration has already taken to accelerate the development of fusion energy, including:

• Creation of a DOE agency-wide Fusion Crosscut Team, which coordinates agency-wide strategy and equities in support of fusion commercialization and which supported the formulation, launch, and award negotiations of the Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program.
• Creation of a White House-led interagency working group that aims to develop a whole-of-government roadmap and provide a mechanism for formal interagency collaborations to support overall U.S. action to accelerate the time to fusion commercialization.
• Release of White House  strategy for International Partnerships in a New Era of Fusion Energy Development at COP28, and the expansion of our network of international collaborations, including the strategic partnership to accelerate fusion energy demonstration and commercialization launched between the United States and Japan during Japanese Prime Minister Kishida’s historic visit to the White House in April 2024, in addition to our strategic partnership to accelerate fusion with the United Kingdom.
• Issuing of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) decision to regulate fusion under a Byproduct Materials Framework, thus separating fusion from the fission regulatory regime.
• Launch of the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) $30 million CHADWICK program to pursue the discovery of transformational first-wall materials by reimagining what is possible in fusion materials, as well as the ARPA-E $150 million Vision OPEN 2024 funding opportunity, for which one of three goals is greenhouse-gas-free abundant primary energy including includes pivotal technologies to accelerate the realization of fusion energy including novel fusion concepts.

These actions, as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, will advance American leadership in science, research, and innovation and drive progress on clean energy solutions that will lower costs for families, improve quality of life, and meet the climate crisis.

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