Laser fusion startup wins backing from US Department of DOE

Two startups working on a laser-powered fusion energy approach have won significant financial backing in a funding round just announced by the US Department of DOE.

 

Xcimer Energy, based in California, and Focused Energy, a U.S.-German joint venture with a base in Texas, are among eight companies sharing $46 million aimed at helping achieve pilot demonstrations of fusion energy by 2032.

 

"Within five to ten years, the eight winners will address scientific and technical challenges to design designs for fusion pilot plants that will help combine fusion technology and commercial viability," the US DOE announced.

The $46m "milestone programme" covers the first 18 months of activity, although projects could last up to five years - subsequent spending plans depend on approval by the US Congress.

 

KrF excimer method

In its own funding announcement, Xcimer said it would receive $9 million under plans to develop its fusion system based on KrF excimer lasers.

 

"Laser Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) is the only fusion method to reach scientific break-even, achieved in December 2022 at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)," the Redwood City company noted.

 

"The Xcimer team will use this achievement and the significant advances made by the laser fusion community to advance inertial fusion Energy (IFE)."

 

Its CEO and co-founder, Conner Galloway, added: "Xcimer's innovation directly addresses the remaining challenges of deploying laser-driven IFE and provides the fastest and lowest risk path to putting fusion energy on the grid."

 

Xcimer's team, which includes collaborators at the University of Rochester's Laser Energetics Laboratory and LLNL, among others, has attracted seed funding from private backers including Prelude Ventures.

 

Its technical approach - based on the "HYLIFE" chamber concept developed by LLNL - aims to dramatically reduce the cost of laser systems, which are the most expensive components in IFE power plants.

 

"Low-cost lasers can economically produce tens of megajoules of laser energy, allowing the NIF-proven hot-spot ignition mechanism to be extended directly to larger, more reliable, and higher-yield fuel tanks," the company explained.

 

"The higher energy output of the larger capsules allows the power plant to operate at a repetition rate of less than one round per second, significantly reducing engineering risk relative to other IFE concepts."

 

Colorado facility

In a virtual discussion following the DOE announcement (see below) moderated by Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, director of the U.S. DOE Office of Science, Susana Reyes, Xcimer's vice president of reactor and plant design, said the company plans to build its prototype laser facility in Colorado, Local universities and schools have been approached about their workforce needs.

 

The 10-MJ-class excimer system envisioned by the company promises to deliver ten times the laser energy that NIF is capable of delivering at an "order of magnitude" lower cost. Excimer sources have been widely deployed in semiconductor lithography devices, although different methods have been used in the latest extreme ultraviolet (EUV) systems.

 

Focused Energy was founded by a team that included Professor Todd Ditmire of the University of Texas at Austin and Professor Markus Roth of the Technical University of Darmstadt, It has previously raised $15 million from venture capital backers including former Major League Baseball star Alex Rodriguez.

 

In September 2021, the company said it planned to build a high-repetition laser test facility to determine the layout for building future ignition facilities by 2025, with a prototype plant expected around 2030.

 

The other six companies that received the latest funding from the DOE do not use laser-based fusion methods, They are Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Princeton Stellarators, Realta Fusion, Tokamak Energy, Type One Energy Group and Zap Energy.

 

Supply chain challenge

News of the DOE's support comes two weeks after the Fusion Industries Association (FIA), based in Washington, DC, said its members expect annual supply chain spending on fusion components and materials to surge from $500 million in 2022 to $7 billion when the initial fusion plants are built.

 

However, the FIA's findings also indicate that suppliers are currently reluctant to make the necessary investments, as building capacity to meet future demand now without committed orders is considered too risky.

 

"The expected growth of the fusion industry creates huge business opportunities for existing and new suppliers," said FIA Chief Executive Andrew Holland. "It is clear [that] more long-term certainty is needed - through a combination of finance, regulation, risk-sharing mechanisms and more communication - so suppliers are prepared to scale up ahead of industry demand.

FIA members include Xcimer Energy and Focused Energy, while Trumpf, a major laser supplier, is an affiliate member.

 

Source: Laser Net