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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Opportunities in pulsed magnetic fusion energy

Fusion is a potentially transformational energy technology, which promises limitless clean energy. Yet, it requires continued scientific and technological development to realize its potential. The conditions necessary for fusion energy gain in terms of the product of plasma pressure P and confinement time τ have been known for many decades. An underappreciated fact is that pulsed magnetic fusion (PMF) has demonstrated $P_τ$ performance on par with laser-driven inertial confinement fusion and tokamaks despite receiving only a small fraction of investment relative to those concepts. In light of this demonstrated performance, well-established scaling relations, and opportunities for further innovations, here we advocate for PMF as the most attractive path toward commercialization of fusion energy.

Energy technology↗
NASA NTRS2012

Nuclear Propulsion through Direct Conversion of Fusion Energy: The Fusion Driven Rocket

The future of manned space exploration and development of space depends critically on the creation of a dramatically more proficient propulsion architecture for in-space transportation. A very persuasive reason for investigating the applicability of nuclear power in rockets is the vast energy density gain of nuclear fuel when compared to chemical combustion energy. Current nuclear fusion efforts have focused on the generation of electric grid power and are wholly inappropriate for space transportation as the application of a reactor based fusion-electric system creates a colossal mass and heat rejection problem for space application.

Propulsion↗
DOE OSTI2025

Development of a Western U.S. Fusion Energy Commercialization Hub

Fusion energy, if successfully commercialized and globally adopted, could substantially increase U.S. energy dominance and provide essentially unlimited baseload power for the national grid. It also stands to provide the U.S. with a strong source of economic growth through the 2030s and 2040s, giving the U.S. a new and highly internationally competitive industry for export. Fusion can also provide the increased electrical power generation capacity required to power current and future artificial intelligence (AI) activities. In October 2024, the CleanTech Alliance held a fusion energy commercialization regional hub workshop alongside its annual Seattle Fusion Week conference. The event brought together fusion companies, researchers, economic development experts, federal and state government representatives, and power utilities from the western states of Washington, California, Colorado and Nevada. Attendees discussed the potential of regionally focused commercialization of fusion energy in three pillars: technology, workforce, and economic development. Mel Clark, President & CEO, CleanTech Alliance, and Dr. Javier Garay, Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and Founding Director of the UCSD Fusion Engineering institute, are co-PIs for this project. The project is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) through a Field Work Proposal to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) with Karl Mueller as point-of-contact. Chris Ajemian (Principal, Ajemian Consulting, LLC) and Dr. Christopher Keane (Professor of Physics and former Vice-President for Research, Washington State University) co-organized the workshop and were the editors for this report. This report details the current state of the work of the four western states to develop industry-led collaboration with national laboratories, universities, and government at all levels to hasten the commercialization of fusion energy. It provides a summary of fusion energy R&D needs, presents the ideas the attendees at the workshop identified for deepening regional collaboration, and makes findings and recommendations for next steps.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Integral Nuclear Data and Benchmarking Needs for Fusion Energy Systems

Fusion energy systems are currently being designed and optimized using radiation transport codes. To deal with the unique environment inside a fusion-based system, many of these designs incorporate novel materials able to withstand the high radiation fields, ensure adequate cooling and thermal protection, and produce tritium. Validation plays a vital role in building trust in the predictive power of these models and computational methods. Validation of a code consists of modeling documented real-world experiments and comparing the code-predicted response to the measured response. Adequate validation requires measured responses from real-world experiments, also known as integral data, that mimic the system being designed, including materials, impinging radiation, and temperature, among other variables. The most trusted integral data are experimental responses that have been through a rigorous benchmarking process that develops a recommended computational model and evaluates all experimental uncertainties. Finally, there are a few research groups around the world that have been producing integral data for fusion applications, but a substantial investment is needed to address the unique validation needs of the fusion community.

Fusion↗
NASA NTRS2001

Magnetized Target Fusion: Prospects for Low-Cost Fusion Energy

Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) has attracted renewed interest in recent years because it has the potential to resolve one of the major problems with conventional fusion energy research - the high cost of facilities to do experiments and in general develop practical fusion energy. The requirement for costly facilities can be traced to fundamental constraints. The Lawson condition implies large system size in the case of conventional magnetic confinement, or large heating power in the case of conventional inertial confinement. The MTF approach is to use much higher fuel density than with conventional magnetic confinement (corresponding to megabar pressures), which results in a much-reduced system size to achieve Lawson conditions. Intrinsically the system must be pulsed because the pressures exceed the strength of any known material. To facilitate heating the fuel (or "target") to thermonuclear conditions with a high-power high-intensity source of energy, magnetic fields are used to insulate the high-pressure fuel from material surroundings (thus "magnetized target"). Because of magnetic insulation, the required heating power intensity is reduced by many orders of magnitude compared to conventional inertial fusion, even with relatively poor energy confinement in the magnetic field, such as that characterized by Bohm diffusion. In this paper we show semi-quantitatively why MTF-should allow fusion energy production without costly facilities within the same generally accepted physical constraints used for conventional magnetic and inertial fusion. We also briefly discuss potential applications of this technology ranging from nuclear rockets for space propulsion to a practical commercial energy system. Finally, we report on the exploratory research underway, and the interesting physics issues that arise in the MTF regime of parameters. Experiments at Los Alamos are focused on formation of a suitable plasma target for compression, utilizing the knowledge base for compact toroids called Field-Reversed Configurations. As reported earlier, it appears that the existing pulsed-power Shiva Star facility at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Albuquerque, NM can satisfy the heating requirements by means of imploding a thin metal cylinder (called a "liner") surrounding an FRC of the type presently being developed. The proposed next step is an integrated liner-on-plasma experiment in which an FRC would be heated to 10 keV by the imploding liner.

Siemon, Richard E.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Status and prospects for inertial fusion energy via lasers

Fusion energy is the ultimate clean and limitless energy source, but its development requires overcoming many scientific and technological challenges. For the first time in the 60-year long history of fusion research, ignition and target gain above unity (G>1) were demonstrated in the laboratory at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 2022. Turning laser fusion into an energy source requires that the results from single shot experiments be replicated at much higher repetition rates of many shots per second to produce high average power at relatively low cost. Furthermore, this requires the development of new laser technologies, mass production of suitable targets, accurate injection and tracking systems and new materials for the reactor chamber components and final optics. Ultra broadband and deep UV light are laser advances that can dramatically improve the laser energy coupling to the target thereby reducing the laser energy and power requirements.

Fusion energy↗
DOE OSTI2026

Additive Manufacturing of Cryogenic Austenitic Steel JK2LB via Wire-Fed Directed Energy Deposition (DED) for Fusion Energy Applications

This study explores the feasibility of fabricating cryogenic austenitic steel JK2LB via both laser-based directed energy deposition (laser-DED) and arc-based directed energy deposition (arc-DED) additive manufacturing processes for potential application in fusion reactors. JK2LB, a low-nickel, high-manganese stainless steel developed for ITER, offers excellent cryogenic toughness, radiation resistance, and decay-to-clearance characteristics. Although JK2LB was originally designed to endure cyclic stresses at cryogenic temperatures in tokamaks, its low-temperature mechanical integrity and radiation tolerance also make it a promising candidate for structural components, such as the coil case/support structure in nonplanar high-temperature superconducting magnet assemblies in stellarators. Directed energy deposition (DED) additive manufacturing was selected for this study due to its capability to fabricate large structures with complex geometries. Here, to address the long lead time and high cost associated with acquiring conventional JK2LB solid wire, JK2LB powder-cored wire was developed as the feedstock material. Testing blocks were then fabricated using both wire-fed laser-DED and arc-DED processes. Microstructural and compositional analyses revealed that both DED approaches yield fully austenitic phase and columnar grain structures. Mechanical testing at room temperature revealed that both DED routes achieved yield strength and elongation comparable to those of conventionally processed JK2LB via vacuum melting, electroslag remelting, extrusion, and drawing, though ultimate tensile strength was reduced due to Mn loss and large columnar grains. As a study mainly focusing on the additive manufacturing process, this work demonstrates the potential of additive manufacturing for fusion energy applications and provides a basis for optimization and future cryogenic mechanical evaluation.

Cryogenic steel↗
DOE OSTI2026

Feature issue introduction: laser driven inertial confinement fusion and bridging the gaps to inertial fusion energy systems

Major fusion research milestones have been achieved using laser driven inertial confinement fusion (ICF) in recent years, and these successes have ignited tremendous enthusiasm for inertial fusion energy (IFE). However, the complexity and difficulty of obtaining fusion ignition with a laser driver in a research setting are often underappreciated, as are the gaps to high driver efficiency, high repetition rates, and laser and target durability requirements needs for IFE. On the academic side, several new research laser systems have been constructed over the past few years, enabling researchers to probe the limits of ICF physics and engineering. This feature issue highlights the challenges and capabilities of laser research and development targeted towards advancing IFE.

Physics - Plasma physics↗
DOE OSTI2025

NewLife Nuclear - An Environmentally and Economically Minded Solution for Fusion Energy Waste Handling

Energy demand is rising as a result of innovative and increasingly more energy intensive processes coming to fruition, particularly through the recent interest in the development of AI data centers as well as manufacturing with the push towards increasing domestic manufacturing interest. Fusion energy can provide virtually limitless energy to support this increase in energy demand. Fusion energy concepts, largely classified as magnetic fusion energy (MFE) and inertial fusion energy (IFE) are being pursued, each having unique challenges to overcome before the successful deployment of electricity to the grid. Achieving fusion ignition on the National Ignition Facility, first in December 2022, and eight times since, has demonstrated the scientific viability of the IFE approach. Meanwhile, MFE test stands continue to improve confinement times, making meaningful strides in progressing towards experimental scientific viability. In each of these approaches, an emphasis is placed on generating more power out of the system than what is required to power the system. An under-researched area applicable to both IFE and MFE is handling activated waste coming out of fusion energy systems, both in the course of normal daily operations, as well as in intermittent periods as structural materials may need to be replaced. In the context of an IFE plant system, commonly discussed plant designs suggest targets are ignited within a chamber at a rate of up to one million targets per day. Between each shot, the chamber housing the ignition event will clear a portion of the chamber – resulting in a mixture of vaporized target gas, target debris, and other materials being expelled from the chamber [source]. Additionally, IFE system concepts typically discuss the modularization of plant designs, which are expected to be replaced periodically as the components degrade over time. This would result in the irradiated chamber structure materials, likely metals and alloys, needing to be removed and safely stored. In MFE plant systems, while targets are not ignited at a repetition rate with the frequent chamber clearing as is expected in IFE plant systems, it is anticipated that portions of the confinement area interfacing with the hot plasma will need to be replaced periodically. In each system, without additional investment and research into alternative processing and recycling methods, the result is storing irradiated materials, and other elements in a safe containment area until they are no longer activated. – resulting in significant waste both economic and environmental.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2025

DOE Challenges and Opportunities Associated with Accountable Nuclear Material Needs for Development and Commercialization of Fusion Nuclear Energy

Fusion energy represents a transformative opportunity to deliver a safe, plentiful, and carbon-free source of reliable primary power. In recent years, fusion research and development have accelerated significantly, particularly within the US, driven by decades of foundational public investment. Notably, in 2024 the US Department of Energy (DOE) established a comprehensive Fusion Energy Strategy aimed at collaborating with industry partners to enable the deployment of fusion power plants and grid integration by the 2030s. This strategy is chiefly implemented through the DOE Office of Science (SC) Fusion Energy Sciences program. This project was initiated to identify potential approaches for the Office of Environment, Safety, and Health (NA-ESH-12) within DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration to begin engagement with the fusion community on future accountable material needs. The goal of the project is to inform and influence the supply of and demand for accountable nuclear materials as fusion energy is developed and commercialized. NA-ESH-12 must proactively engage with the fusion community regarding the production and management of accountable nuclear materials. Given the complexity and scale of materials required for research, pilot projects, and eventual commercial reactors, early coordination is vital. The project’s objective is to provide insights that will shape the supply and demand landscape for critical nuclear materials, ensuring that DOE is prepared to effectively support fusion energy development and commercialization. In FY 2025, an initial limited review was conducted to identify the status of the fusion energy community’s progress toward full-scale energy production and the need for accountable nuclear material. This included communications with SC, NA-ESH-12, Savannah River National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and attending the Rutgers University–sponsored Supply Chain Workshop: Scaling the Fusion Industry and the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Ninth DEMO Programme Workshop. The review to date indicates that the amounts of tritium, lithium-6, and deuterium required by the fusion industry will be dependent on fuel type, breeding technology, blankets, and R&D improvements. One concern is that the commercial sector does not have a sufficient supply chain to meet the demand for development and commercialization for fusion energy production. The supply and demand estimates for these materials should be routinely reviewed as fusion technologies mature.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS2018

The Fusion Driven Rocket: Nuclear Propulsion through Direct Conversion of Fusion Energy

The future of manned space exploration and development of space depends critically on the creation of a dramatically more efficient propulsion architecture for in-space transportation. A very persuasive reason for investigating the applicability of nuclear power in rockets is the vast energy density gain of nuclear fuel when compared to chemical combustion energy. The Fusion Driven rocket (FDR) represents a revolutionary approach to fusion propulsion where the power source releases its energy directly into the propellant, not requiring conversion to electricity. It employs a solid lithium propellant that requires no significant tankage mass. The propellant is rapidly heated and accelerated to high exhaust velocity (> 30 km/s), while having no substantial physical interaction with the spacecraft thereby avoiding damage to the rocket and limiting both the thermal heat load and radiator mass. The key to achieving this stems from research at MSNW and the UW on the magnetically driven implosion of metal foils onto a magnetized plasma target to obtain fusion conditions. A logical extension of this work leads to a method that utilizes these metal shells (or liners) to not only achieve fusion conditions, but to serve as the propellant as well. Several low-mass, magnetically driven metal liners are inductively driven to converge radially and axially and form a thick blanket surrounding the target plasmoid and compress the plasmoid to fusion conditions. Virtually all of the radiant, neutron and particle energy from the plasma is absorbed by the encapsulating, thick metal blanket thereby isolating the spacecraft from the fusion. This energy, in addition to the intense Ohmic heating at peak magnetic field compression, is adequate to vaporize and ionize the metal blanket. The expansion of this hot, ionized metal propellant through a magnetically insulated nozzle produces high thrust at the optimal Isp. The energy from the fusion process, along with the waste heat, is thus utilized at very high efficiency. The basic scheme for FDR is illustrated and described in the report (see Fig. 2) The two most critical issues in meeting challenges introduced employing magneto-inertial fusion as the power source is driver efficiency and “stand-off” – the ability to isolate and protect fusion and thruster from the resultant fusion energy. By employing metal shells for compression, it is possible to produce the desired convergent motion inductively by inserting the metal sheets along the inner surface of cylindrical or conically tapered coils. Both stand-off and energy efficiency issues are solved by this arrangement. 3 This two year effort focused on achieving three key criteria for the Fusion Driven Rocket to move forward for technological development: (1) the physics of the FDR must be fully understood and validated, (2) the design and technology development for the FDR required for its implementation in space must be fully characterized, and (3) an in-depth analysis of the rocket design and spacecraft integration as well as mission architectures enabled by the FDR need to be performed. A subscale, laboratory liner compression test facility was assembled at the University of Washington Plasma Dynamics Laboratory with sufficient liner kinetic energy (~ 0.5 MJ) to reach conditions required for fusion breakeven conditions. Detailed experimental studies of the dynamic behavior of the driven liners as well as liner convergence and magnetic compression were performed. The development of both the 1D liner dynamics code and the full 3D ANSYS® liner calculations was achieved. The characterization of both the FDR and spacecraft as well as a design architecture analysis was conducted that included an examination of a wide range of mission architectures and destinations for which this fusion propulsion system would be enabling or critical. In particular a rapid, single launch manned Mars mission was developed.

Energy↗
DOE OSTI2026

XFEL imaging techniques for high energy density and inertial fusion energy research at HED-HiBEF

The imaging platform developed at the High Energy Density-Helmholtz International Beamline for Extreme Fields (HED-HiBEF) instrument at the European X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) and its applications to HED and fusion related research are presented. The platform combines the XFEL beam with the high-intensity short-pulse laser ReLaX and the high-energy nanosecond-pulse laser DiPOLE-100X. The spatial resolution is better than 500 nm and the temporal resolution of the order of 50 fs. The influence of the XFEL source in the x-ray imaging method is discussed. Free-propagation x-ray phase contrast imaging and Talbot-Lau imaging setups are shown. We show examples of blast waves and converging cylindrical shocks in aluminum, resonant absorption measurements of specific charged states in copper with ReLaX and planar shocks in polystyrene material generated by DiPOLE-100X. For the first time, we show the application of Talbot-Lau interferometry to convergent cylindrical shocks as well as resonant absorption processes. We also discuss the possibilities introduced by combining this imaging platform with a kJ-class laser.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Integrated Process Model Utilization and Development for Inertial Fusion Energy

This CRADA between LLNS and Longview Fusion Energy Systems utilized a modernized LLNL Integrated Process Model (IPM) to assess technoeconomic viability and power plant configurations for Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE). During the collaboration period, a streamlined IPM model was produced by LLNL, which consolidated a combination of 3 models under one file. Additionally, obsolete parameters were removed and parameters available for trade space analysis were organized in a user-friendly fashion on the front interface. Gain scaling curves were discussed and analyzed in the framework of the IPM. Additional updates were made to account for cost scaling to today's dollars using an average inflation rate. Heat transfer material costing was updated using a ground up approach with public vendor data. Further levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) methods and models were discussed and reviewed for applicability to the IPM. Prior published literature on optical scaling was also discussed. Moreover, as part of this CRADA, the Participant developed a fusion technology development roadmap and point designs.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Towards Resilient Near Real-Time Analysis Workflows in Fusion Energy Science

Nuclear fusion holds the promise of an endless source of energy. Several research experiments across the world and joint modeling and simulation efforts between the nuclear physics and high performance computing communities are actively preparing the operation of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). Both experimental reactors and their simulated counterparts generate data that must be analyzed quickly and in a resilient way to support decision making for the configuration of subsequent runs or prevent a catastrophic failure. However, the cost if the traditional techniques used to improve the resilience of analysis workflows, i.e., replicating datasets and computational tasks, becomes prohibitive with explosion of the volume of data produced by modern instruments and simulations. Therefore, we advocate in this paper for an alternate approach based on data reduction and data streaming. The rationale is that by allowing for a reasonable, controlled, and guaranteed loss of accuracy it becomes possible to transfer smaller amounts of data, shorten the execution time of analysis workflows, and lower the cost of replication to increase resilience. We develop our research and development roadmap towards resilient near real-time analysis workflows in fusion energy science and present early results showing that data streaming and data reduction is a promising way to speed up the execution and improve the resilience of analysis workflows.

Suter, Fred↗
DOE OSTI2026

Integrated Process Model Utilization and Development for Inertial Fusion Energy

This CRADA between LLNS and Longview Fusion Energy Systems utilized a modernized LLNL Integrated Process Model (IPM) to assess technoeconomic viability and power plant configurations for Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE). During the collaboration period, a streamlined IPM model was produced by LLNL, which consolidated a combination of 3 models under one file. Additionally, obsolete parameters were removed and parameters available for trade space analysis were organized in a user-friendly fashion on the front interface. Gain scaling curves were discussed and analyzed in the framework of the IPM. Additional updates were made to account for cost scaling to today's dollars using an average inflation rate. Heat transfer material costing was updated using a ground up approach with public vendor data. Further levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) methods and models were discussed and reviewed for applicability to the IPM. Prior published literature on optical scaling was also discussed. Moreover, as part of this CRADA, the Participant developed a fusion technology development roadmap and point designs.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Building Inclusive Educational and Career Pathways in Fusion Energy

This paper was written in preparation for the Workforce Accelerator for Fusion Energy Development conference, which was funded by the National Science Foundation. Prior to the conference, participants from academia, government, industry, national laboratories, and nonprofit organizations worked together to write White papers. Held in Hampton, Virginia, in May 2024, the conference convened participants to discuss various topics in support of workforce development in fusion energy. As the fusion industry expands, efforts to recruit and retain a diverse workforce, ensure equitable access to fusion education, and gain public support will be critical to meeting workforce needs in this field. We outline strategic recommendations across three vital areas: improving diversity data collection; supporting career advancement and retention with a diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and belonging focus; and strengthening community engagement and education in fusion energy.

Cote, Laleh [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory↗
NASA NTRS1992

Fusion energy for space: Feasibility demonstration. A proposal to NASA

This proposed program is to initiate a space flight research and development program to develop fusion energy for the space applications of direct space propulsion and direct space power, that is, a Space Fusion Energy (SFE) program. 'Direct propulsion' refers to the use of plasma energy directly for thrust without requiring other energy conversion systems. Further, to provide space missions with large electrical power, 'direct space power' is proposed whereby the direct conversion of charged particles into electricity is used, thereby avoiding thermal conversion system losses. The energy release from nuclear fusion reactions makes these highly efficient, high power space systems possible. The program as presented conducts in an orderly, hierarchical manner the necessary planning, analyses, and testing to demonstrate the practical use of fusion energy for space. There is nothing discussed that is known to be theoretically impossible. Validation of the engineering principles is sought in this program which uses a cost-benefit approach. Upon successful program completion, space will become more accessible and space missions more safely conducted. The country will have taken a giant step toward the commercialization of space. The mission enabling capability provided by fusion energy is well beyond mission planners' current dreams.

Schulze, Norman R.↗