Funding Opportunities

ARPA-E aims to support the development of timely, commercially viable fusion energy.[1] Based on numerous studies examining the cost challenges facing advanced nuclear energy,[2] which shares some attributes with fusion such as unit size, capital cost, and power-generation characteristics, ARPA-E believes that a commercial fusion power plant should target an overnight capital cost (OCC) of <US$2B and <$5/W.[3] If a grid-ready fusion demonstration can be realized within approximately twenty years while satisfying these cost metrics, then, as a firm low-carbon energy source, fusion can contribute to meeting global, growing low-carbon energy demand and cost-effective deep decarbonization[4] in the latter half of the century.

This program addresses the need to lower the costs of development and eventual deployment of commercial fusion energy by supporting R&D to increase the performance and number of credible, lower-cost fusion concepts. Full Applications are invited in the three research categories[5] described in Section I.D of the FOA. Criteria and metrics are described in Section I.E of the FOA. The technology-to-market (T2M) component of this program, via a number of planned activities at the project and program levels, aims to build and smooth the path to fusion commercialization to include public, private, and philanthropic partnerships.

[1] See agenda and posted materials from ARPA-E fusion workshop, Burlingame, CA, Aug. 13–14, 2019.

[2] e.g., The Future of Nuclear Energy in a Carbon-Constrained World, An Interdisciplinary MIT Study, MIT Energy Initiative (2018).

[3] Assuming 10^th-of-a-kind for the fusion-specific systems and n^th-of-a-kind for the balance of plant.

[4] N. A. Sepulveda et al., “The Role of Firm Low-Carbon Electricity Resources in Deep Decarbonization of Power Generation,” Joule 2, 2403 (2018).

[5] At the recent ARPA-E fusion workshop (see footnote 2), a potential program covering both “lower-cost fusion concept development” and “fusion enabling technologies” was discussed (for the latter, see also ARPA-E Request for Information (RFI) DE-FOA-0002131, released May 6, 2019). Please note that this program, BETHE, covers the former but only a subset of the latter, as described in detail in Section I.D of the FOA. ARPA-E recognizes that serious development of fusion enabling technologies must be initiated as soon as possible to meet the objective of a grid-ready fusion demonstration in 20 years, and is exploring a potential, separate program focused on that topic.

Concept Paper Encourage / Discourage decisions are published and available in eXCHANGE as of 4/11/24.

The primary objective of the CHADWICK program is the development of new first-wall materials that will significantly improve the commercial viability of nuclear fusion.The CHADWICK program is comprised of three technical categories to support the program objectives. Applicants can apply to Category A, Category B, a combination of Categories A and B, or Category C, based on their expertise. Category C capability teams will support analysis and facilitate communications between Category A and B project teams and fusion power system designer end users by performing techno-economic analyses (TEA) and activation analysis of their materials products.

CATEGORY A – PLASMA-FACING COMPONENT MATERIALS: Applicants to this category will discover and validate materials that maintain room temperature ductility after significant irradiation damage and helium generation while satisfying the unirradiated thermal conductivity, plasma erosion, and tritium retention performance metrics of tungsten in fusion power system first-wall applications.

CATEGORY B – STRUCTURAL MATERIALS: Applicants to this category will discover and validate materials that maintain room temperature ductility after significant irradiation damage and helium generation while satisfying the unirradiated thermal, mechanical, and tritium retention performance metrics of RAFM steels in fusion power system first-wall applications.

CATEGORY C – CAPABILITY TEAMS: Applicants seeking to contribute an expert or specialist capability that could assist multiple Category A and/or B experimental teams in fulfilling program objectives should consider selecting Category C.

ARPA-E is seeking information from diverse R&D communities, from both within and especially outside the fusion R&D community, about technological solutions and innovations that can enable commercially viable fusion power plants. While it is impossible to predict precisely what is needed for fusion to be commercially viable over the next few decades, fusion’s market entry may require that both the nameplate generation capacity and total construction cost be well below the assumed 1-GWe and >$5B (2019 dollars) scales described in prior fusion-power-plant studies.[1] As discussed further below, this RFI focuses specifically on the enabling technologies for potential fusion power plants at reduced nameplate capacity and cost. ARPA-E is particularly interested in transformational R&D opportunities that are not already being pursued by or included in the roadmaps of ongoing DOE fusion programs.

Please carefully review the REQUEST FOR INFORMATION DOCUMENT and GUIDELINES below. Please note, in particular, that the information you provide will be used by ARPA-E solely for program planning, without attribution. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THIS NOTICE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA). NO FOA EXISTS AT THIS TIME.

[1] See, e.g., F. Najmabadi et al., Fus. Eng. Des. 38, 3 (1997); F. Najmabadi et al., ibid 80, 3 (2006).

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) is considering issuing a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to support the discovery of plasma-facing and structural first wall materials that are suitable for fusion power plants. As described in more detail below, the purpose of this announcement is to facilitate the formation of new project teams to respond to the potential FOA. The FOA will provide specific program goals, technical metrics, and selection criteria. The FOA terms are controlling.

For purposes of this Teaming Partner List, the program’s current overarching goal is to discover and test new candidate materials that can withstand high-dose irradiation up to 50 displacements per atom (dpa) while preserving ductility at room temperature. Current state-of-the-art materials such as tungsten and reduced-activation steels suffer from irradiation and helium embrittlement issues that can make fusion power systems prohibitively expensive to qualify and operate. New advancements in machine-learning-assisted material discovery, advanced manufacturing, material damage modeling, and irradiation testing provide the opportunity to discover new materials that can withstand the unique extreme environment required for sustained fusion reactions.

ARPA-E currently expects the FOA to focus on the research of materials with high thermal conductivity, low activation, low tritium retention, and low irradiation-induced swelling that maintain room temperature ductility after significant irradiation damage and helium generation. Two categories of materials will be assessed separately on the following characteristics:

1. Plasma-facing component materials will need to show better performance than tungsten, including plasma erosion performance.
2. Structural materials will need to show better performance than reduced-activation steels, including high temperature strength performance.

The FOA will also seek to establish capability teams to consolidate the materials discovery and performance data generated by the projects. The capability teams will support project performers on digitization, standardization, and storage of materials data as well as create the framework for systems and life-cycle analysis of fusion power system designs with varying materials of construction.

Expertise in the following areas may be useful in responding to the potential FOA:

• Rapid material synthesis and screening
• Material design modeling
• Irradiation damage modeling
• Neutron activation calculations
• Advanced manufacturing
  
• Ion irradiation and helium implantation
• Materials mechanical testing and analysis
• Plasma erosion testing
• Tritium retention testing
• Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML)
• Materials database development and maintenance

As a general matter, ARPA-E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams. Interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible.

The Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. The Teaming Partner List will be available on ARPA-E eXCHANGE (http://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov), ARPA-E’s online application portal, starting in October 2023. The Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically until the close of the Full Application period to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on this list should complete all required fields in the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Applicantprofile.aspx. Required information includes the following: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Notice, you consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating this Teaming Partner List, ARPA-E does not endorse or otherwise evaluate the qualifications of the entities that self-identify for placement on the Teaming Partner List. ARPA-E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted to other email addresses or by other means will not be considered. This list is completely voluntarily to participate in and utilize. ARPA-E will not identify or facilitate connections through the teaming list and participation in the list has no bearing whatsoever on the evaluation of applications submitted to the potential FOA.

This Notice does not constitute a FOA. No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the FOA, expected to be issued by November 2023, for instructions on submitting an application and for the terms and conditions of funding.

The FOA associated with this Teaming Partner List can be found at: DE-FOA-0003240: CREATING HARDENED AND DURABLE FUSION FIRST WALL INCORPORATING CENTRALIZED KNOWLEDGE (CHADWICK)

This announcement is purposely broad in scope, and will cover a wide range of topics to encourage the submission of the most innovative and unconventional ideas in energy technology. The objective of this solicitation is to support high-risk R&D leading to the development of potentially disruptive new technologies across the full spectrum of energy applications. Topics under this FOA will explore new areas of technology development that, if successful, could establish new program areas for ARPA-E, or complement the current portfolio of ARPA-E programs.

Targeted Topics:

A. Extremely Durable Concretes and Cementitious Materials
CLOSED - FA Deadline passed 9:30 AM ET 2/19/19

B. Leveraging Innovations Supporting Nuclear Energy
CLOSED - FA Deadline passed 9:30 AM ET 2/19/19

C. Downhole Tools to Enable Enhanced Geothermal Systems
CLOSED - FA Deadline passed 9:30 AM ET 2/19/19

D. Diagnostic Resource Teams to Support the Validation of Potentially Transformative Fusion-Energy Concepts
CLOSED - FA Deadline passed 9:30 AM ET 4/15/19

E. Quantification of Effectiveness of Nutrient Bioextraction by Seaweed
CLOSED - FA Deadline passed 9:30 AM ET 5/13/19

F: High Value Methane Pyrolysis
CLOSED - FA Deadline passed 9:30 AM ET 7/26/19

G: Reserved

H: Establishing validation sites for field-level emissions quantification of agricultural bioenergy feedstock production
CLOSED - FA Deadline passed 9:30 AM ET 11/18/19

I: Electricity System Models for Carbon Capture Resources
CLOSED - FA Deadline passed 9:30 AM ET 1/22/2020

J: Biotechnologies to Ensure a Robust Supply of Critical Materials for Clean Energy
CLOSED - FA Deadline passed 9:30 AM ET 5/7/2020

K: Recycle Underutilized Solids to Energy:
CLOSED - FA Deadline 10:30 AM ET 6/2/2020

L: Insulating Nanofluids and Solids to Upgrade our Large Aging Transformer Equipment:
CLOSED - FA Deadline passed 9:30 AM ET 7/22/2020

M: Mining Incinerated Disposal Ash Streams:
CLOSED - FA Deadline passed 9:30 AM ET 7/22/2020

N: Waste into X:
CLOSED - FA Deadline passed 9:30 AM ET 7/22/2020

O:Direct Removal of Carbon Dioxide from Oceanwater:
CLOSED - FA Deadline passed 9:30 AM ET 7/22/2020

P: Direct Removal of Carbon Dioxide from Ambient Air:
CLOSED - FA Deadline Passed 9:30 AM ET 7/22/2020

Q: Connecting Aviation by Lighter Electric Systems:
CLOSED - FA Deadline passed 9:30 AM ET 11/17/2020

R: Lowering CO2: Models to Optimize Train Infrastructure, Vehicles, and Energy Storage (LOCOMOTIVES):
CLOSED - FA Deadline Passed 9:30 AM ET 11/23/2020

S. Topology Optimization and Additive Manufacturing for Performance Enhancement of High Temperature and High Pressure Heat Exchangers (Topology)
CLOSED - FA Deadline passed 9:30 AM ET 12/1/2020

T: Reserved

U: SF₆-Free Routes for Electrical Equipment
CLOSED - FA Deadline passed 9:30 AM ET 7/23/21

V: Life Cycle Assessment for Carbon Negative Buildings
CLOSED - FA Deadline passed 9:30 AM ET 1/10/2022

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA–E) is considering a program to promote advanced nuclear energy by addressing significant challenges on the back end of advanced nuclear reactor (AR) fuel cycles. Specifically, the potential program would seek to develop and demonstrate technologies that will significantly improve the disposal impact of used nuclear fuel (UNF) and other waste streams stemming from the implementation of AR fuel cycles. This R&D would enable proliferation-resistant fuel cycles for ARs with an emphasis on minimizing the impact of fuel cycle wastes.

Overall goals for the potential program include:

• an order of magnitude reduction in waste volumes or repository footprint with no weakening of safeguards standards
• development of safeguards technologies for AR UNF processing for which there is no existing economically and/or technically viable solution for in-process fissile mass measurement of better than 1% accuracy
• proliferation-resistant recycling of uranium (U) and transuranic (TRU) materials for new AR fuel stock that produce less than 0.1% actinides in waste stream
• high durability waste forms for AR UNF (e.g., TRi-structural ISOtropic particle (TRISO) fuel, metallic fuel, molten salt fuel) across multiple disposal environments

Three technological areas have been identified as offering the most likely avenues to achieving substantial improvements in disposal impact for AR fuel cycles. A fourth category is included to capture breakthrough technologies that do not fit into the three listed technological areas, but that could nonetheless significantly improve the disposal impact of UNF. These four categories are:

1. Process solutions: This technology area includes process improvements that significantly minimize waste volumes, improve intrinsic proliferation resistance of actinide separations, increase resource utilization efficiency, and bolster commercialization. 
2. Safeguards solutions: This technology area includes improved sensor and data fusion technologies that will allow for accurate and timely accounting of nuclear materials.
3. Waste form solutions: This technology area includes waste forms solution for AR fuel cycles with a particular emphasis on waste forms for waste streams from pyroprocessing of UNF or spent fuel from Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs).
4. Other solutions: This category is provided for technologies which do not clearly fall into the above three categories. A compelling case must exist that the technology will deliver significant improvements to the fuel cycle disposal impact.

Since the exact nature of the back end of future AR fuel cycles is both undetermined and likely to evolve over time as ARs are deployed and technologies are updated, technologies that can span multiple AR fuel cycles and disposal concepts while achieving otherwise high performance would be of significant interest to this potential program. Further, while this potential program would require proposed technologies be specific to AR fuel cycle concepts, technologies with backwards compatibility with existing commercial light-water reactor (LWR) fuel cycle wastes would also be of significant interest.

ARPA–E held a workshop on these topics on December 2, 2020. Information from this workshop can be found at the event webpage (https://arpa-e.energy.gov/events/reducing-impact-used-nuclear-fuel-advanced-reactors-workshop).

As a general matter, ARPA–E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams. Multidisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible. Furthermore, ARPA-E strongly encourages involving industry partners to advise and collaborate with these project teams, with the goal of achieving successful industry adoption and integration of the innovative technologies these projects teams develop.

A Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. ARPA-E intends to make the Teaming Partner List available on ARPA–E eXCHANGE (https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov), ARPA–E’s online application portal, in April 2021. Once posted, the Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on the Teaming Partner List should complete all required fields in the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/ApplicantProfile.aspx. Required information includes: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Announcement, respondents consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating this Teaming Partner List, ARPA–E does not endorse or otherwise evaluate the qualifications of the entities that self-identify for placement on the Teaming Partner List. ARPA–E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted to other email addresses or by other means will not be considered.

This Announcement does not constitute a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the final FOA, expected to be issued May 2021, for instructions on submitting an application, the desired technical metrics, and for the terms and conditions of funding.

The ARPA-E / SC-FES joint program, GAMOW, supports innovative research and development (R&D) in a range of enabling technologies (beyond confinement plasma physics), defined further below and in Section I.D, required for commercially attractive fusion energy. Key attributes for any commercially attractive energy include economics, safety, reliability/availability/maintainability/inspectability (RAMI), and environmental sustainability. This program prioritizes R&D that will help establish both the technical and commercial viability of a range of fusion enabling technologies (depicted generically in Fig. 1), particularly in (i) all the required technologies and subsystems between the fusion plasma and the balance of plant, and (ii) cost-effective, high-efficiency, high-duty-cycle driver technologies. Applicants should leverage and build on foundational research in fusion materials, fusion nuclear science (FNS), plasma-materials interactions (PMI), and other enabling technologies, and focus on potentially transformative fusion-energy R&D that is informed by market-aware techno-economic analysis (TEA).

The purpose of this RFI is to solicit input for a potential future ARPA-E research program on nonconventional fusion approaches. This is a new “hybrid” RFI format where traditional written responses are accepted as before, but with the new option of participating in a Polyplexus incubator online discussion and Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) session. Further instructions and details are provided in the RFI.

Responses to this RFI should be submitted in PDF format to the email address ARPA-E-RFI@hq.doe.gov by 5:00 PM Eastern Time on 4/30/2021 and/or via participation in the Polyplexus incubator (March 17 to April 7, 2021) and/or AMA (March 26, 2021, 1:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern Time). Participation via Polyplexus is strongly encouraged.

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THIS NOTICE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA). NO FOA EXISTS AT THIS TIME.

Respondents shall not include any information in the response to this RFI that could be considered proprietary or confidential.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is considering issuing a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for a new program entitled Converting UNF Radioisotopes Into Energy (CURIE). This new program will fund innovative technologies and approaches that will significantly improve the economics of commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities, improve reprocessing material accountancy while decreasing materials attractiveness, and drastically reduce the volume of high-level waste (HLW) requiring permanent disposal. An ARPA-E workshop was held in July 2021 to help identify and refine metrics for this new program; presentations from that workshop can be found here. The following paragraphs summarize the motivation for CURIE and the current planning for the CURIE FOA.

The U.S. currently uses a once-through fuel cycle in which approximately 4% of the uranium in nuclear fuel is consumed in a nuclear reactor before it is disposed of as HLW. After decades of using a once-through fuel cycle, the U.S. has accumulated nearly 86,000 metric tons (MT) of used nuclear fuel (UNF), an amount that increases by approximately 2,000 MT per year.[1] However, the use of nuclear fuel reprocessing, which is the recovery of valuable actinides from UNF, could close the fuel cycle by enabling the recycle of valuable actinides as new fuel for advanced reactors. Recycling UNF in this manner could greatly improve resource utilization, particularly when used in fast-spectrum advanced reactors, while dramatically reducing the volume of HLW requiring disposal. Reprocessing facility construction costs are currently estimated to range from $250 million to $20 billion,[2] but advances in separations chemistry and material accountancy technologies, front-end UNF treatment, advanced manufacturing, modularization, machine learning, and other relevant technological advances could be leveraged to drastically reduce the costs of constructing and operating a modern reprocessing facility in a safe and secure manner. The CURIE program aims to achieve this timely goal. It is part of a nearly $90M ARPA-E strategy to manage and reduce the Nation’s HLW waste inventory and complements ARPA-E’s recently announced ONWARDS program, which focuses on minimizing the waste impact of advanced reactors.

The FOA will provide specific CURIE program goals, technical metrics and selection criteria; the terms of the FOA will be controlling but currently, ARPA-E anticipates that the CURIE FOA will target research and development in the following categories:

Category 1 – Reprocessing Technologies: This technical category includes front-end- and separations process improvements and innovative equipment designs that minimize waste volumes and streams, condense unit operations, improve intrinsic proliferation resistance of actinide separations, increase resource utilization efficiency, simplify off-gas management, and/or, enable repurposing and recovery of valuable products (e.g., noble metals, medical radioisotopes). Example technology improvements include, but are not limited to, process intensification, single-cycle solvent extraction, advanced voloxidation, and fluoride volatility.

Category 2 – Integrated Monitoring & Materials Accountancy: This technical category includes technologies that support online monitoring of UNF reprocessing operations and enable materials accountancy of fissile materials at accuracy and precision levels of <1% error. This could include improved sensor fusion, instrumentation to support automated collection of real-time monitoring training sets, or novel sensors.

Category 3 – Facility Design & Systems Analysis: This category is intended for proposals that focus on lowering construction and operations and maintenance costs for reprocessing facilities via approaches such as (but not limited to) modularization of unit operations, automation, development of digital twins, and the use of advanced manufacturing techniques. It also includes systems analysis proposals that optimize the footprint, throughput, and siting of reprocessing facilities; assess the impact of reprocessing on future repository disposal costs; evaluate risks associated with a reprocessing facility; and otherwise explore ways of dramatically improving the economics, licensing, and siting of reprocessing facilities.

Category 4 - Other: This category is provided for submissions which do not cleanly fall into the above three categories but can potentially meet overall programmatic objectives.

To meet the program metrics for these areas of research, expertise in the following Technical Areas may be useful in responding to the FOA:

• Separations Chemistry (e.g., solvent extraction, pyroprocessing, halide volatility, etc.)
• Head-End Processing (e.g.,voloxidation, Kr/Xe capture, etc.)
• Process Intensification
• Material Accountancy/Online Monitoring
• Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing and Safeguards Regulations
• Digital Engineering
• Techno-Economic Analyses
• Systems Analysis and Risk Assessment
• Advanced Manufacturing and Construction, Including Modular Fabrication
• Sensors, Instrumentation, Controls, Autonomous Operation, and Robotics
• Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Digital Twins
• Project Engineering

As a general matter, ARPA-E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams. Interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible. Such collaboration is especially important for CURIE, as several of the technical and engineering advances (e.g., waste-minimizing separations processes, digital twins, and process intensification) that are crucial to the success of CURIE have been developed and optimized outside of the nuclear industry. To ensure a comprehensive, integrated approach to reaching CURIE’s program goals, ARPA-E is encouraging teams from the sectors such as

• National Laboratories
• Universities
• Nuclear Fuel Cycle Industry
• Oil and Gas Industry
• Chemical and Biochemical Industry
• Industrial Waste Management Companies
• Mineral Processing Industry
• AI/Robotics R&D/Industry
• Project Engineering and Construction Firms

The Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. The Teaming Partner List will be available on ARPA-E eXCHANGE (http://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov), ARPA-E’s online application portal, in January 2022. Once posted, the Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on this list should complete all required fields at the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Applicantprofile.aspx. Required information includes Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response, you consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating this Teaming Partner List, ARPA-E does not endorse or otherwise evaluate the qualifications of the entities that self-identify for placement on the Teaming Partner List. ARPA-E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted to other email addresses or by other means will not be considered.

This Notice does not constitute a FOA. No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the final FOA, expected to be issued February 2022 for instructions on submitting an application and for the terms and conditions of funding.

[1] Government Accountability Office, Report No. GAO-21-603, “Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel: Congressional Action Needed to Break Impasse and Develop a Permanent Disposal Solution,” published September 2021, available online at https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-603. Accessed November 12, 2021.

[2] Idaho National Laboratory, Report No. NTRD-FCO-2017-000265, “Advanced Fuel Cycle Cost Basis – 2017 Edition,” Module F1: Spent Nuclear Fuel Aqueous Reprocessing Facility, published September 29, 2017.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA–E) anticipates issuing a new Topic for the FOA “Solicitation on Topics Informing New Program Areas” in August 2020 to solicit applications for financial assistance to develop a publicly available model that enables evaluation of the benefit of various energy storage (ES) technology developments to the rail freight sector.

As described in more detail below, the purpose of this announcement is to facilitate collaborations among performing teams including the testing and resource support teams to respond to the upcoming Topic. The Topic will provide specific Program goals, technical metrics, and selection criteria and the Topic terms. For the purposes of the Teaming Partner List, the following summarizes current planning for the Topic:

US rail freight Class 1 rail system is a large transportation sector, responsible for the movement of a significant amount of freight throughout the country. It is an extremely efficient mode of transportation, accounting for 40% ton-miles of freight movement while consuming 2% of the total US transportation energy budget. Nonetheless, the GHG emissions from freight movement (not accounting for passenger trains, rail yard movement, etc.) are very large, approximately 40 MTCO₂ per year [i].

A long series of incremental advancements have made it one of the most efficient modes of transportation, and thus one of the cleanest (GHG/ton-km) today. As a result, there is limited opportunity to further reduce rail GHG emissions associated with rail freight via efficiency and logistics improvements alone. This has been borne out in recent years by the observed flattening of the efficiency curve. Moreover, the locomotive fleet is well into conversion to tier 4 emission standards and further implementation of emissions reductions may actually work against further efficiency improvements. Deep decarbonization analyses show that, as with most of the transportation sector, fuel switching represents the biggest opportunity for significant further reductions in GHG associated with rail freight.

If full de-carbonization of fleet GHG emissions is to be achieved, new propulsion and energy storage (referred to generally as ES systems) technologies, as well as the charging/fueling infrastructure, must be developed. However, this will be more difficult for the rail freight sector than for much of the rest of the transportation sector since the unique operational and financial characteristics of the rail freight sector combine to drive very challenging requirements:

• Very high energy storage requirements > GJ
• High power drive systems: Rail freight requires high propulsion power (> 10 MW provided by multiple locomotives)
• Need for widely distributed infrastructure
• Industry moving to larger trains
• High capital costs → long lifecycle for new technology
• Mostly privately owned → desire for short term ROI

Although the rail industry and government have done research to decarbonize rail freight, no comprehensive plan has emerged given the many challenges discussed above. The new ES systems studied to date are not viewed by all stakeholders to have a reasonable technical or economic viability.

A global rollout plan must be developed to replace or modify the existing fleet of approximately 25,000 locomotives and expand the fraction of cargo moving by rail if rail is to become an integral part of full de-carbonization in the next decades. Fortunately, the rail sector includes a manageable number of routes, well characterized trains and infrastructure systems, predictable schedules, and diesel-electric propulsion. As a result, at least theoretically, this enables optimal planning for potential technology infusion into the sector. Of course, a comprehensive ES rollout modeling tool must be informed by and consistent with the economic and logistical constraints of the rail freight system.

ARPA-E seeks diverse interdisciplinary teams in the development of planning and simulation tools that model deployment of new ES technologies with output values over a few time scales (e.g., 10, 20, 30 years) of GHG emissions, and levelized cost of Mt-km (LCOTKM). Optionally as a stretch goal, the simulation tool would also enable automated optimization of the technology deployment at specific target levels of GHG emissions and/or LCOTKM reductions. The LCOTKM model should be defensible based on historical analysis of investments, new technology deployment and regulatory compliance in the rail freight industry. A realistic physical model should be built for each new ES so that its performance and energy consumption on a route-by-route basis is validated.

ARPA-E envisions that inputs to the model would fall into three main classes: ES properties, rail route constraints and logistics, economic model assumptions. Since the logistics will often include consist (group of locomotives on one train), multiple EV technologies should be explored. The GHG accounting will utilize the standard DOE recommendations contained in https://greet.es.anl.gov/.

The targeted outcome of the program is a set of publicly available planning tools for identification, evaluation, and prioritization of ES-related technology developments whose deployment would significantly reduce GHG in the rail freight sector. This tool must account for the existing constraints of the rail freight system or reasonable extrapolation thereof. This analysis will inform the priorities in ES technologies development and deployment utilizing a common validated tool.

As a general matter, ARPA–E strongly encourages different organizations with outstanding scientists and engineers, and across different scientific disciplines and technology sectors to participate in this Program. Interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible.

The Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. ARPA-E intends to make the Teaming Partner List available on ARPA–E eXCHANGE (http://ARPA–E-foa.energy.gov), ARPA–E’s online application portal, starting in August 2020. The Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect the addition of new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on the Teaming Partner list should complete all required fields in the following link: https://ARPA–E-foa.energy.gov/Applicantprofile.aspx. Required information includes: Organization Name; Contact Name; Contact Address; Contact Email; Contact Phone; Organization Type; Area of Technical Expertise; and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Notice, you consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating this Teaming Partner List, ARPA–E does not endorse or otherwise evaluate the qualifications of the entities that self-identify themselves for placement on the Teaming Partner List. ARPA–E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted via email or other means will not be considered.

This Notice does not constitute a FOA. No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the final FOA, expected to be issued in August 2020, for instructions on submitting an application and for the terms and conditions of funding.

[i] https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/fast-facts-transportation-greenhouse-gas-emissions.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA–E) intends to issue a new Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) in November 2019 to solicit applications for financial assistance to develop lower-cost fusion-energy concepts.¹ Based on numerous studies examining the cost challenges facing advanced nuclear energy,² which shares some attributes with fusion such as unit size and capital cost, ARPA-E believes that a commercial fusion power plant should target an overnight capital cost (OCC) of <US$2B and <$5/W. Furthermore, if fusion energy can be commercialized in about 20 years, then, as a firm low-carbon energy source, it can contribute to meeting global, growing low-carbon energy demand and cost-effective deep decarbonization³ in the latter half of the century.

As described in more detail below, the purpose of this announcement is to facilitate the formation of new project teams to respond to the planned FOA. The FOA will provide specific program goals, technical metrics, and selection criteria, and the FOA terms are controlling. For the purposes of the Teaming Partner List, the following summarizes current planning for the FOA.

Building on the ALPHA program⁴ and synergies with the growing private fusion industry,⁵ the key objective of this program will be to increase the number and performance levels of lower-cost fusion concepts. Presently, ARPA–E anticipates that this program may have three research categories:

A. Concept Development: projects will develop lower-cost fusion concepts as measured against specific milestones (to be detailed in the FOA), from theoretical/numerical assessment of net-energy-gain potential to experimental demonstration of fusion-triple-product⁶ increases toward the notional energy-breakeven requirement of ~3x10²¹ keV·s/m³.Concepts that have already demonstrated triple products >10¹⁹ keV·s/m³ are not eligible for this category but may be eligible for Component Technology Development (Category B) below.ARPA-E may support multiple concepts in this category at a range of entry and exit milestones.Concepts from the full range of thermonuclear parameter space⁷ (i.e., from lower-density magnetically confined to higher-density inertially confined systems) will be eligible.Proposers will be required to fill in a spreadsheet (to be included with the FOA) to estimate the cost of a short-pulse or single-shot, net-gain experiment based on their concept.Proposals will be evaluated, in part, based on whether the estimated cost for the net-gain experiment is less than ~$100M.

B. Component Technology Development: projects will develop a component technology with the potential to reduce the capital cost of costlier, more mature fusion concepts, such as the tokamak, stellarator, or inertial confinement fusion (ICF).Proposers will be asked to make a quantitative argument (e.g., relative to relevant past reactor studies) that a grid-ready demonstration power plant enabled by the new component technology could satisfy the metrics of OCC <$2B and $5/W.

C. Capability Teams: projects will improve/adapt and apply an existing capability to support multiple Concept Development projects (Category A). Priority needs include (but are not limited to) (i) theory, modeling, and validation for a range of lower-cost fusion concepts, including pulsed, intermediate-density fusion concepts (e.g., magneto-inertial fusion and Z pinches) and magnetic-confinement concepts with reduced magnetic-field strength/complexity and/or linear geometry; (ii) creative application of machine learning to accelerate the development of lower-cost fusion concepts; and (iii) expert engineering design, fabrication, or other support to accelerate progress for multiple projects and lower the overall costs for the program.

In order to realize the goals of this ARPA-E program, expertise in the following areas may be useful: (i) fusion plasma physics; (ii) multi-physics modeling and simulations of fusion plasmas; (iii) design, construction, and/or operation of plasma/fusion experiments; (iv) machine learning; (v) pulsed-power systems; (vi) high-temperature superconducting magnets; (vii) high-field permanent magnets; (viii) plasma-heating systems; (ix) high-efficiency, high-bandwidth, high-average-power lasers for ICF; (x) enabling the use of advanced fusion fuels; and (xi) advanced manufacturing. As a general matter, ARPA–E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams. Interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible.

The Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. ARPA-E intends to make the Teaming Partner List available on ARPA–E eXCHANGE (https://ARPA–E-foa.energy.gov), ARPA–E’s online application portal, starting in October 2019. The Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect the addition of new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on the Teaming Partner list should complete all required fields in the following link: https://ARPA–E-foa.energy.gov/Applicantprofile.aspx. Required information includes: Organization Name; Contact Name; Contact Address; Contact Email; Contact Phone; Organization Type; Area of Technical Expertise; and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Notice, you consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating this Teaming Partner List, ARPA–E does not endorse or otherwise evaluate the qualifications of the entities that self-identify themselves for placement on the Teaming Partner List. ARPA–E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted via email or other means will not be considered.

This Notice does not constitute a FOA. No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the final FOA, expected to be issued in November 2019, for instructions on submitting an application and for the terms and conditions of funding.

1 https://arpa-e.energy.gov/?q=workshop/enabling-timely-and-commercially-viable-fusion-energy; this workshop discussed both “lower-cost fusion concept development” and “fusion enabling technologies.” This Teaming Partner List and planned FOA are only for the former.

2 e.g., The Future of Nuclear Energy in a Carbon-Constrained World, An Interdisciplinary MIT Study, MIT Energy Initiative (2018).

3 N. A. Sepulveda et al., “The Role of Firm Low-Carbon Electricity Resources in Deep Decarbonization of Power Generation,” Joule 2, 2403 (2018).

4 Accelerating Low-cost Plasma Heating and Assembly; C. L. Nehl et al., “Retrospective of the ARPA-E ALPHA Fusion Program,” J. Fusion Energy, published online Oct. 8, 2019.

5 See, e.g., member companies of the Fusion Industry Association.

6 The “Lawson” fusion triple product is a metric for comparing the rate of fusion energy production to the rate of energy lost from the fusion fuel. Above a threshold value of the triple product, fusion energy exceeds the energy lost. This is typically required in a practical fusion power plant.

7 I. R. Lindemuth and R. E. Siemon, “The fundamental parameter space of controlled thermonuclear fusion,” Amer. J. Phys. 77, 407 (2009).

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA–E) is considering issuing a new Exploratory Topic under Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) DE‐FOA‐0002784 and DE‐FOA‐0002785 to solicit applications for financial assistance in pursuit of hypotheses-driven approaches toward realizing diagnostic evidence of Low-Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR) that are convincing to the wider scientific community. A goal of this Exploratory Topic will be to establish clear practices to rigorously answer the question, “should this field move forward given that LENR could be a potentially transformative carbon-free energy source, or does it conclusively not show promise?”

ARPA-E acknowledges the complex, controversial history of LENR beginning with the announcement by Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons in 1989 that they had achieved deuterium-deuterium (D-D) “cold fusion” in an electrochemical cell.[1] DOE reviews in 1989 and 2004 both concluded that the body of evidence to date did not support the claim of D-D fusion, but that research proposals on deuterated heavy metals should be evaluated under the standard peer-review process. This has not happened, in part because LENR was largely dismissed by the scientific research community by 1990.[2] Nevertheless, many groups from around the world continued to conduct varied LENR experiments on minimal budgets and to report evidence of excess heat and nuclear reactions (including neutrons, tritium, ³He, ⁴He, transmutation products, and isotopic shifts) in hundreds of reports/papers.[3] However, repeatability of the key evidence over multiple trials of seemingly the same experiment remains elusive to this day.[4] This may be due to limitations in experimental or diagnostic techniques, lack of awareness and/or control of the key triggers and independent variables of LENR experiments, or other reasons. Furthermore, results were typically not reported with the level of scientific rigor required by top-tier research journals. As a result, LENR as a field remains in a stalemate where lack of adequate funding inhibits the rigorous results that would engender additional funding and more rigorous studies.

For these reasons, ARPA-E has over the past 2+ years revisited the history of LENR as a field, studied the literature, released a general RFI[5] on nonconventional fusion approaches (that received many LENR-related responses), and held a LENR workshop.[6] The workshop was attended by 100+ people, including long-time and newer LENR researchers, non-LENR researchers from adjacent research disciplines, and other interested stakeholders. Institutions represented at the workshop included government laboratories/FFRDCs, top research universities, and private companies. The information gathered and received by ARPA-E, including from reputable experts at prestigious U.S. academic institutions, laboratories, and private corporations, supports the decision to proceed with the announcement of this Teaming Partner List.

As described in more detail below, the purpose of this announcement is to facilitate multi-disciplinary teaming, especially among but not limited to LENR researchers and nuclear diagnostic experts. ARPA-E believes that such teaming will improve the chances of advancing the field of LENR. The FOA will provide specific program goals, technical metrics, and selection criteria. The FOA terms will be controlling. For the purposes of the Teaming Partner List, the following summarizes current planning for the FOA:

Based on its claimed characteristics, LENR may be an ideal form of nuclear energy with potentially low capital cost, high specific power and energy, and little-to-no radioactive byproducts. If LENR can be irrefutably demonstrated and scaled, it could potentially become a disruptive technology with myriad energy, defense, transportation, and space applications, all with strong implications for U.S. technological leadership. For energy applications, LENR could potentially contribute to decarbonizing sectors such as industrial heat and transportation (~50% of U.S. and global CO₂-equivalent emissions).

This forthcoming ARPA-E Exploratory Topic program aims to build on recent progress in the field,[7] with strong emphases on testing/confirming specific hypotheses (rather than focusing only on replication), identification and verifiable control of experimental variables and triggers, more comprehensive diagnostics and analysis, access to broader expertise and capabilities on research teams, and an insistence on peer review and publication in top-tier journals. To accomplish this goal, ARPA-E is looking for diverse interdisciplinary teams to obtain convincing empirical evidence of nuclear reactions in an LENR experiment through two possible categories:

A) LENR Experiments: The goal of this potential category would be to conduct LENR experiments through careful selection of specific, testable hypotheses that can be supported or retired upon the collection of correlated, multi-messenger nuclear diagnostics. Proposed LENR experiments would have a well-articulated connection to prior published LENR evidence. Principal Investigators would be expected to have a strong publication record of experimental work in leading journals, and at least one seasoned LENR practitioner (e.g., someone who has conducted and published results on LENR experiments) should be included on the team. Organizations and project teams interested in this potential category would either directly incorporate specialist capabilities described below or anticipate collaborating with one or more Capability Teams.

B) Capability Teams: The goal of this potential category would be to provide specialist support to LENR experiments, including but not limited to nuclear diagnostic detectors and capabilities, materials fabrication, elemental/isotopic sample analysis, statistical analysis, experimental design and related modeling, and calorimetry (note, however, that calorimetry would likely not be acceptable as a sole or primary diagnostic).

As a general matter, ARPA–E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organization, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to participate in this Exploratory Topic. Multidisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible.

A Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. ARPA-E intends to make the Teaming Partner List available on ARPA–E eXCHANGE (https://ARPA–E-foa.energy.gov), ARPA–E’s online application portal, starting in July 2022. Once posted, The Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect the addition of new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on the Teaming Partner list should complete all required fields in the following link: https://ARPA–E-foa.energy.gov/Applicantprofile.aspx. Required information includes: Organization Name; Contact Name; Contact Address; Contact Email; Contact Phone; Organization Type; and brief description of your Background, Interest, and Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Announcement, respondents consent to the publication of the above-referenced information By facilitating and publishing this Teaming Partner List, ARPA-E is not endorsing, sponsoring, or otherwise evaluating the qualifications of the individuals and organizations that are self-identifying themselves for placement on this Teaming Partner List. ARPA-E reserves the right to remove any inappropriate responses to this Announcement (including lack of sufficient relevance to, or experience with, the technical topic of the Announcement). ARPA–E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted via email or other means will not be considered.

This Announcement does not constitute a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the final Exploratory Topic, expected to be issued in August 2022 under the FOAs noted at the beginning of this Teaming Partner List, for instructions on submitting an application, the desired technical metrics, and for the terms and conditions of funding.

[1] M. Fleischmann and S. Pons, “Electrochemically induced nuclear fusion of deuterium,” J. Electroanal. Chem. Int. Electrochem. 261, 201 (1989); https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0728(89)80006-3.

[2] For historical accounts of LENR, see, e.g. J. R. Huizenga, Cold Fusion: The Scientific Fiasco of the Century (University of Rochester Press, Rochester, NY, 1993); E. Storms, The Science of Low Energy Nuclear Reaction (World Scientific, Singapore, 2007); S. B. Krivit, Hacking the Atom (Pacific Oaks Press, San Rafael, CA, 2016); and S. B. Krivit, Fusion Fiasco (Pacific Oaks Press, San Rafael, CA, 2016).

[3] See, e.g., https://lenr-canr.org and the bibliographies of the books by Storms and Krivit in footnote 2.

[4] See, e.g., the books by Huizenga and Krivit in footnote 2 for critical discussions of LENR evidence.

[5] https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Default.aspx?Search=nonconventional%20fusion&SearchType=.

[6] https://arpa-e.energy.gov/events/low-energy-nuclear-reactions-workshop.

[7] See C.P. Berlinguette et. al., “Revisiting the cold case of cold fusion,” Nature 570, 45 (2019) and references therein, and presentations at the ARPA-E LENR Workshop: https://arpa-e.energy.gov/events/low-energy-nuclear-reactions-workshop.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency –Energy (ARPA‐E) in the U.S. Department of Energy is seeking comments on the draft technical section of a potential future Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for the CURIE program. This new program would focus on innovative technologies and approaches that will significantly improve the economics of commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities, improve reprocessing material accountancy while decreasing materials attractiveness, and drastically reduce the volume of high-level waste (HLW) requiring permanent disposal. An ARPA-E workshop was held in July 2021 to help identify and refine metrics for this contemplated program; presentations can be found here. Such technological advancements would enable a 1¢/kWh fuel cost for a secure 200 MTHM/yr facility that does not generate pure plutonium streams while significantly reducing the volume of high-level waste requiring disposal. ARPA‐E seeks input from experts in the fields of separations chemistry (e.g., solvent extraction, pyroprocessing, halide volatility, etc.); head-end processing (e.g., voloxidation, Kr/Xe capture, etc.); process intensification; material accountancy/online monitoring; project engineering; techno-economic analysis; digital engineering; systems analysis and risk assessment; advanced manufacturing and construction (including modular fabrication); artificial intelligence, machine learning, and digital twins; and sensors, instrumentation, autonomous operation, and robotics.

Please carefully review the REQUEST FOR INFORMATION GUIDELINES below and note in particular: the information you provide will be used by ARPA-E solely for program planning, without attribution. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THIS NOTICE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA). NO FOA EXISTS AT THIS TIME. Respondents shall not include any information in their response to this RFI that might be considered proprietary or confidential.

Purpose and Need for Information:

The purpose of this RFI is solely to solicit input about the scope of the draft technical section of the CURIE FOA for ARPA-E consideration. ARPA-E will not provide funding or compensation for any information submitted in response to this RFI, and ARPA-E may use information submitted to this RFI without any attribution to the source. This RFI provides the broader research community with an opportunity to contribute views and opinions regarding the technology and economics of reprocessing facilities.

This RFI previews only the draft technical section for a possible future program solicitation. If respondents are interested in other sections, including general format and requirements of an ARPA-E FOA, please visit https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/. DE-FOA-0002212: Breakthroughs Enabling Thermonuclear-fusion Energy (BETHE) is a sample FOA to reference. A few common sections include but are not limited to:

• III.A: Eligible Applicants (e.g., domestic entities)
• III.B: Cost-Sharing IV.C: Content and Form of full applications
• VI.C: Reporting (e.g., cost)
• VIII.B: Government Rights in Subject Inventions
• VIII.C: Rights in Technical Data

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION GUIDELINES:

A summary of RFI responses will be presented by Program Director Jenifer Shafer on February 23-24, 2022, at ARPA-E’s CURIE Industry Day. Individuals interested in attending the CURIE Industry Day event should indicate this in the RFI response.

ARPA-E may contact respondents to request clarification or seek additional information relevant to this RFI. All responses provided will be considered, but ARPA-E will not respond to individual submissions. Respondents shall not include any information in the response to this RFI that might be considered proprietary or confidential.

Responses to this RFI should be submitted in PDF format to the email address ARPA-E-RFI@hq.doe.gov by 5:00 PM eastern time on February 21,2022. Emails should conform to the following guidelines:

Please insert “Responses for CURIE” in the subject line of your email, and include your name, title, organization, type of organization (e.g., university, non-governmental organization, small business, large business, federally funded research and development center (FFRDC), government-owned/government-operated (GOGO), etc.), email address, telephone number, and area of expertise in the body of your email. Responses to this RFI are limited to no more than 5 pages in length (12-point font size). Respondents are strongly encouraged to include preliminary results, data, and figures that describe their potential methodologies.

Questions: ARPA-E encourages responses that address any subset of the following questions and encourages the inclusion of references to important supplementary information.

1. For elements/radioisotopes present in used nuclear fuel that could be valuable for recovery, what are the estimated potential demand and prices for these elements/radioisotopes?

2. Are there specific technical research topics being considered that may fall under the “other” category of the draft technical section?

3. What is an envisioned timeline for gaining the requisite approvals and materials access necessary to use actual used nuclear fuel (UNF) for research experiments?

4. What other considerations (e.g., site use or transportation restrictions) should ARPA-E be aware of regarding the use of actual UNF in CURIE project proposals?

5. Any other issues, questions, or feedback regarding the draft FOA.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA–E) and the Office of Science – Fusion Energy Sciences (SC-FES) of the Department of Energy intend to issue a new joint Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) in February 2020 named GAMOW. This FOA will solicit applications for financial assistance to support innovative research and development (R&D) in a range of enabling technologies (beyond confinement plasma physics) that will be needed in commercially attractive fusion energy systems. Related to this planned FOA, a “Teaming Partner List” – described below - is being compiled to facilitate the formation of project teams that will submit applications in response to the FOA.

Key attributes for any commercially attractive energy system include economics, safety, RAMI (reliability, availability, maintainability, inspectability), and environmental sustainability. The GAMOW Program will prioritize R&D that will help establish both the technical and commercial viability of technologies in the following anticipated technical research categories:

A. Fusion Energy Subsystems

• Integrated first-wall and tritium-breeding blanket
• Plasma-facing components (PFC) and divertor
• Tritium fuel cycle
• High-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets
• High-efficiency, high-duty-cycle electrical drivers

B. Cross-Cutting Research

• Novel fusion materials, including methods to enable accelerated testing/qualification
• Advanced and additive manufacturing to revolutionize fusion R&D and system attractiveness

The high-level program objectives are:

• Substantial progress toward demonstrating technical feasibility and/or increases in performance in the technical categories listed above compared to present state-of-the-art
• Enabling significant device simplification or elimination of entire subsystems, in one or more commercially motivated fusion energy concepts
• Reduction in fusion energy system cost (capital and/or operations/maintenance) and/or development time/cost, including those of critical materials and component testing/qualification facilities
• Improvements in safety, RAMI, and/or environmental attractiveness of fusion energy systems.

As a general matter, ARPA–E and SC-FES strongly encourage outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams. Interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible.

The Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of GAMOW project teams. ARPA-E intends to make the Teaming Partner List available on ARPA–E eXCHANGE (https://ARPA–E-foa.energy.gov), ARPA–E’s online application portal, starting in February 2020. The Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect the addition of new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on the Teaming Partner list should complete all required fields in the following link: https://ARPA–E-foa.energy.gov/Applicantprofile.aspx. Required information includes: Organization Name; Contact Name; Contact Address; Contact Email; Contact Phone; Organization Type; Area of Technical Expertise; and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Notice, you consent to the publication of the above-referenced information.By facilitating this Teaming Partner List, ARPA–E / SC-FES do not endorse or otherwise evaluate the qualifications of the entities that self-identify themselves for placement on the Teaming Partner List. ARPA–E / SC-FES will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted via email or other means will not be considered.

This Notice does not constitute a FOA. No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the final FOA, expected to be issued in February 2020, for instructions on submitting an application and for the terms and conditions of funding.

Introduction

ARPA-E has as one of its goals the development of energy technologies that improve the management, cleanup, and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. To meet this goal, ARPA-E has established a suite of programs (GEMINI, MEITNER, ONWARDS, CURIE) that have the potential to reduce the volume of radioactive waste by a factor of 10 or more and the needed time for storage by a comparable amount. Nuclear transmutation of key fission products and actinides in the remaining radioactive waste has the potential to reduce the volume and storage time by additional orders of magnitude. The purpose of this RFI is to solicit input for a potential future ARPA-E program focused on the development of technologies to support advances in nuclear transmutation with the desired goal to reduce the volume, radiotoxicity, and storage time of spent nuclear fuel. Generation of valuable isotopes, semiconductor production, and radioisotopes are also of interest to this RFI.

Consistent with the agency’s mission, ARPA-E is seeking novel and disruptive technologies that are early in the R&D cycle. ARPA-E seeks to include input from the developers and end-users of such technologies, including national laboratories, universities, private industry, and the medical community. ARPA-E is particularly interested in transmutation enabling technologies, and it is specifically interested in how such technologies can improve the reliability and duty cycles of transmutation systems while reducing capital and operating costs.

Understanding the economic factors that would lead to a transmutation facility are invaluable to a potential program. Reprocessing of waste may be needed for efficient transmutation. The location of this reprocessing facility, whether located at the waste generating sites, or at the transmutation location will impact the economics. Additionally, depending on the size of the transmutation facility, there may be several facilities constructed in order to reduce quantities of waste to the desired metric. Funds for the decommissioning of reactors as well as the nuclear waste fund may be available for these types of activities.

The questions below are intended to allow relevant stakeholders a mechanism to provide input on:

(i) metrics to gauge the success of transmutation of spent nuclear fuel;

(ii) advancements in transmutation enabling technologies, including accelerator-driven systems and current and advanced generation reactors, and non-neutron sources; and

(iii) economic factors for the operation of transmutation facilities.

Responses to the questions below will help ARPA-E to refine its success metrics for a potential program aimed at the reduction of radiotoxicity, volume, and storage time of spent nuclear fuel through the use of transmutation. ARPA-E does not expect any one respondent to answer all, or even many, of these prompts. Simply indicate the group and question number in your response. Appropriate citations are encouraged. Respondents are also welcome to address other relevant avenues/technologies that are not outlined below.

Areas that are not Considered for this RFI:

• General discourse on nuclear energy and waste disposal strategies
• Transmutation initiated by fusion processes
• Fission-fusion hybrid devices
• Separations of minor actinides from used nuclear fuel
• The use of transmutation to produce medical radioisotopes

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THIS NOTICE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA). NO FOA EXISTS AT THIS TIME.

Respondents shall not include any information in their response to this RFI that might be considered proprietary or confidential.

Responses to this RFI should be submitted in PDF format to the email address ARPA-E-RFI@hq.doe.gov by 5:00 PM Eastern Time on June 12, 2023.

Fusion energy has the potential to provide a safe, abundant, firm, zero-carbon-emitting source of primary energy, electricity, and heat. In order to achieve its potential and meaningfully contribute to the target of global net-zero emissions, fusion must demonstrate competitive economics on a short timeline. Therefore, there is an urgent need to provide a technological pathway to economical fusion power plants (FPP).

This RFI seeks broad input on two overarching themes: (A) Improving fusion power plant performance and (B) Increasing fusion power plant availability. While power plant performance and availability are intertwined in determining the cost of electricity, theme (A) includes technologies targeting the efficiency of plasma heating schemes, and advanced laser driver technologies, as well as economic and high-gain targets for inertial fusion energy (IFE). Theme (B) focuses on “designer” materials for plasma-facing and structural components. Candidate materials (solid and self-healing) should include, but not be limited to, the following features: minimized half-lives of materials, reduced dust formation, minimized fuel retention (e.g., hydrogen), minimized displacement per atom due to neutron irradiations, and high heat resistance (> 600 °C). Specifically, this RFI focuses on three technology areas for developing this pathway towards economically competitive fusion energy. The areas are:

• Efficient and low-cost drivers for plasma heating and assembly
• Novel first-wall and structural materials
• Low-cost, high-performance targets for inertial fusion energy (IFE)

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) of the US Department of Energy seeks information that could inform ARPA-E's potential research and development (R&D) funding for these three areas.

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THIS NOTICE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA). NO FOA EXISTS AT THIS TIME.

Respondents shall not include any information in their response to this RFI that might be considered proprietary or confidential.

Responses to this RFI should be submitted in PDF format to the email address ARPA-E-RFI@hq.doe.gov by 5:00 PM Eastern Time on 11/28/2022.

Objective:

The Advanced Research Projects Agency –Energy (ARPA‐E) in the U.S. Department of Energy is seeking comments on a draft technical section for a possible future program solicitation, which focuses on the suite of technologies required to rehabilitate cast iron, wrought iron, and bare steel natural gas distribution pipes by creating a new pipe inside the old pipe. The new pipe will meet utilities’ and regulatory agencies’ requirements, have a minimum life of 50 years, and have sufficient material properties to operate throughout its service life without reliance on the exterior pipe. ARPA‐E seeks input from experts in the fields of pipeline testing, advanced coating materials, biomimetic materials, smart materials (e.g., self-healing, or self-monitoring), robotic coating deposition tools, material inspection techniques, pipeline mapping tools, 3-D data visualization and data management, control and systems engineering, and gas pipeline operation; as well as service providers who replace, inspect, and locate natural gas utility pipelines.

Please carefully review the REQUEST FOR INFORMATION GUIDELINES below and note in particular: the information you provide will be used by ARPA-E solely for program planning, without attribution. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THIS NOTICE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA). NO FOA EXISTS AT THIS TIME. Respondents shall not include any information in their response to this RFI that might be considered proprietary or confidential.

Purpose and Need for Information:

The purpose of this RFI is solely to solicit input for ARPA-E consideration, to inform the possible formulation of future programs intended to help create transformative technology to rehabilitate cast iron, wrought iron, and bare steel natural gas distribution pipes by crafting new pipes inside pre-existing pipes. ARPA-E will not provide funding or compensation for any information submitted in response to this RFI, and ARPA-E may use information submitted to this RFI without any attribution to the source. This RFI provides the broad research community with an opportunity to contribute views and opinions regarding the rehabilitation of legacy natural gas pipelines.

This RFI previews only the draft technical section for a possible future program solicitation. If respondents are interested in other sections, including general format and requirements of an ARPA-E FOA, please visit https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/ . DE-FOA-0002212: Breakthroughs Enabling Thermonuclear-fusion Energy (BETHE) is a sample FOA to reference. A few common sections include but are not limited to:

• III.A: Eligible Applicants (e.g. foreign entities)
• III.B: Cost-Sharing
• IV.C: Content and Form of full applications
• VI.C: Reporting (e.g. cost)
• VIII.B: Government Rights in Subject Inventions
• VIII.C: Rights in Technical Data

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION GUIDELINES:

A summary of RFI responses will be presented by Program Director Jack Lewnard on January 22, 2020 at ARPA-E’s REPAIR Industry Day. Individuals interested in attending Industry Day please indicate so in RFI response for more information.

ARPA-E may contact respondents to request clarification or seek additional information relevant to this RFI. All responses provided will be considered, but ARPA-E will not respond to individual submissions. Respondents shall not include any information in the response to this RFI that might be considered proprietary or confidential.

Responses to this RFI should be submitted in PDF format to the email address ARPA-E-RFI@hq.doe.gov by 5:00 PM Eastern Time on January 20,2020. Emails should conform to the following guidelines:

Questions: ARPA-E encourages responses that address any subset of the following questions and encourages the inclusion of references to important supplementary information.

1. The target pipeline diameter is 10 inches and larger.Please comment on ability to develop robotic coating deposition and inspection tools for smaller diameter pipes.

2. Task 1 identifies a preliminary list of testing for “pipe in pipe”.Please comment on the suitability of the list and other potential tests ARPA-E should include.

3. The legacy pipelines are made from cast/wrought iron, and bare (uncoated) steel.Please comment:

     a. on the ability of a single coating, or family of coatings to be suitable for both types of pipes

     b. on the ability of pipe inspection technologies to be suitable for both types of pipes

4. Component developers need to collaborate with system integrators to demonstrate integrated products.Advanced materials, robotics, and inspection tools must be tailored to work together.ARPA-E is recommending component developers and system integrators form teams to produce integrated systems.ARPA-E is interested in alternative approaches that will lead to the demonstration of integrated systems at the end of the program.For example, is it better to form teams at the start, so components are developed concurrently; or delay team formation to allow component developers maximum flexibility in optimizing their technologies?

5. Task 6 seeks to develop 3D maps that incorporate data from REPAIR processes as well as utility data such as leak reports.Utilities are increasing the use of GIS-enabled databases for managing operations data.Are there preferred platforms for data storage/management in order to integrate coating data, inspection data, and mapping data? Should the FOA specify data format(s)?

6. Any other issues, questions, or feedback regarding the draft FOA

The Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy (ARPA-E) intends to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled: Power Nitride Doping Innovation Offers Devices Enabling SWITCHES (PNDIODES) to fund the development of a selective area doping process that can be used to fabricate high quality p-n junctions in the III-Nitride material system for achieving high-performance and reliable vertical power electronic semiconductor devices. The PNDIODES program will address one of the biggest road blocks for the viability of vertical GaN power electronic devices, namely, the lack of a GaN selective area doping or selective area epitaxial regrowth process that yields material of sufficiently high quality to enable a defect-free p-n junction on patterned GaN surfaces. Hence, the program will seek solutions that overcome the limitations of the current selective area doping technologies.

The overall goal will be to demonstrate randomly placed, reliable, contactable, and generally usable p-n junction regions in Gallium Nitride and other III-Nitrides for the purpose of enabling high performance and reliable vertical power electronic devices.

As described in more detail below, the purpose of this announcement is to facilitate the formation of new project teams to respond to the upcoming PNDIODES FOA. The FOA will provide specific program goals, technical metrics, and selection criteria; and the FOA terms are controlling. ARPA-E anticipates that the deadline for submission of Full Applications to this FOA will occur 60 days after its issuance. For purposes of the Teaming Partner List, the following summarizes current planning for the FOA:

The technical goals of the anticipated FOA will be centered on providing a pathway, based on fundamental science and technology, to fabricating high quality p-n junctions using selective area doping in Gallium Nitride and other III-Nitrides that are electrically equivalent to state-of-the-art as-grown p-n junctions. A secondary goal is the development of fundamental understanding of dopant incorporation, activation, diffusion, and defect passivation or elimination in the selectively doped regions along with an understanding of the impurities, defects, dislocations, and vacancies that are introduced by the selective area doping process. Efforts addressing a fundamental understanding of selective area doping must be clearly targeted toward developing actionable outcomes in addressing the goal of fabricating p-n junctions (using selective area doping techniques) that are electrically equivalent to state of the art as-grown p-n junctions with breakdown voltages exceeding 600V and commensurate forward characteristics on bulk GaN substrates.

Currently, ARPA-E anticipates that the FOA will target research in: (1) Selective area etching and epitaxial regrowth of doped regions using various growth techniques (MOCVD, MBE, etc.); (2) Ion implantation and dopant activation using various annealing schemes (rapid thermal anneals, laser anneals, etc.); (3) Solid-state diffusion of dopants; (4) Neutron transmutation doping, (5) Other novel experimental or theoretical doping schemes and studies; and (6) Electrical and material characterization of the selective doped regions using various techniques (Hg-probe, I-V, C-V, TEM, AFM, EPR, RBS, cathodoluminescence, photoluminescence, XRD, X-Ray topography, sub-Å microscopy and atomic imaging, 3-D electron tomography, positron annihilation, etc.) and other novel diagnostic methods .

In order to realize the goals of the PNDIODES program, ARPA‐E aims to bring together diverse engineering and scientific communities, including epitaxial growth specialists, semiconductor defect scientists, condensed matter theorists and experimentalists, electrical and nano-scale material characterization experts, chemists, semiconductor equipment engineers, semiconductor process specialists, and power electronics researchers.

As a general matter, ARPA-E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams. Interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible.

The Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. The Teaming Partner List will be available on ARPA-E eXCHANGE (http://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov), ARPA-E’s online application portal, starting September, 2016. The Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on this list should complete all required fields in the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Applicantprofile.aspx. Required information includes: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Notice, you consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating this Teaming Partner List, ARPA-E does not endorse or otherwise evaluate the qualifications of the entities that self-identify for placement on the Teaming Partner List. ARPA-E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted to other email addresses or by other means will not be considered.

This Notice does not constitute a FOA. No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the final FOA, expected to be issued in October 2016, for instructions on submitting an application and for the terms and conditions of funding.

ALPHA seeks to develop and demonstrate low-cost tools to aid in the development of fusion power, with a focus on approaches to produce plasmas in the final density range of 10¹⁸-10²³ ions/cm³ (at Lawson conditions). The program goal is to create a toolset that will allow a significant reduction in facilities costs for fusion development and to enable rapid learning through a high shot rate at a low cost-per-shot, enabling rapid progress along new learning curves towards economical fusion power

The Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy (ARPA-E) intends to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled Accelerating Low-cost Plasma Heating and Assembly (ALPHA), to solicit applications to pursue innovative research to significantly reduce the “cost of entry” into fusion R&D. As described in more detail below, the purpose of this announcement is to facilitate the formation of new project teams to respond to the upcoming ALPHA FOA. The FOA will provide specific program goals, technical metrics, and selection criteria. The FOA terms will be controlling.  For purposes of the Teaming Partner List, the following summarizes current planning for the FOA:

The focus of ALPHA is to develop research tools to explore the intermediate ion density regime of 10¹⁸-10²³ ions/cm³ (at Lawson conditions).  This intermediate density space falls outside of the major research programs in magnetic confinement and inertial confinement fusion, and represents a high risk, high reward opportunity to identify new pathways to fusion power that may offer relatively inexpensive development cycles.  ARPA-E's goal is to develop a set of low-cost technologies in fusion drivers and plasma formation that will achieve high experimental shot rates for rapid learning, and create new low-cost paths to fusion power beyond the ARPA-E program.  Currently, ARPA-E anticipates that the FOA will focus on research in: (1) Targets, plasma formation technologies to produce plasmas with sufficient lifetime, transport properties, and geometry to pair with a driver and achieve Lawson conditions at a final density of 10¹⁸-10²³ ions/cm³; and (2) Drivers, systems to deliver energy to plasma targets with sufficient power density, symmetry, and mitigation of instabilities to achieve Lawson conditions at a final density of 10¹⁸-10²³ ions/cm³. There may be areas of overlap where a single system can both form a plasma target and drive it to fusion conditions, and such a system is also within the scope of this planned FOA.

ARPA-E anticipates that expertise including, but not limited to, the following Technical Areas may be useful in responding to the FOA: thermonuclear fusion, plasma physics, pulsed power, plasma guns, rail and coil guns, particle accelerators, laser accelerators, MEMS, plasma compression (e.g. solid liners, liquid liners, plasma liners, magnetic compression), compact toroids (field reversed configuration, spheromaks), standoff plasma magnetization, plasma pinches, power plant design, magnetohydrodynamics, plasma codes, fusion energy, fusion propulsion.

As a general matter, ARPA-E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams. Interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible.

The Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. The Teaming Partner List will be available on ARPA-E eXCHANGE (http://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov), ARPA-E’s online application portal, starting in August 2014. The Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on this list should complete all required fields in the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Applicantprofile.aspx. Required information includes: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Notice, you consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating this Teaming Partner List, ARPA-E does not endorse or otherwise evaluate the qualifications of the entities that self-identify themselves for placement on the Teaming Partner List. ARPA-E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted to other email addresses or by other means will not be considered.

This Notice does not constitute a FOA. No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the final FOA, expected to be issued in August or September 2014, for instructions on submitting an application and for the terms and conditions of funding.