The US Department of Energy (DOE) has recently announced USD$14 million in funding for 10 university-led research projects in fusion energy. A major goal of the research is to develop methods of sustaining steady-state or continuous operation of fusion reactors, an essential step toward eventually making nuclear fusion a practical energy source.

“Fusion remains one of the world’s most promising potential sources of energy,” says Under Secretary for Science Paul M. Dabbar. “This research—aimed at achieving steady-state operation of fusion reactors—will be an important milestone on the road to sustainable energy from fusion,” he adds.

Research will focus on high-priority challenges in magnetic confinement of plasma on the pathway toward eventual development of a contained, self-sustaining fusion reaction. The research will be performed on the DIII-D tokamak, the largest magnetically confined plasma facility in the United States. DIII-D is a DOE Office of Science user facility in San Diego, operated by General Atomics.

Projects range from developing new means of controlling plasma instabilities, to improving diagnostics, to advancing understanding of the material erosion that takes place inside fusion reactors.

More information about the 10 research projects is available on the DOE website at energy.gov.