REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Xcimer Energy announced that it is participating in three fusion energy “hubs” that were awarded funding by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today, through DOE’s Inertial Fusion Energy Science and Technology Accelerator Research program (IFE-STAR). Application to the IFE-STAR program was a very competitive process, and Xcimer is the only private company participating in all three hubs that were selected for funding: RISE led by Colorado State University, STARFIRE led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and IFE-COLoR led by the Laboratory for Laser Energetics.
Supported by the DOE Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (FES), the goal of the IFE-STAR program is to bring universities, national labs, and private companies together to advance inertial fusion energy and tackle the key remaining challenges in bringing IFE to the grid. Xcimer will be working with STARFIRE on IFE chamber and balance of plant design, IFE-COLoR on elements of direct-drive fusion target development, and with RISE on key elements of laser driver technology.
With the hub teams led by universities and national labs, the IFE-STAR program is a complement to the DOE Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program, in which applicant teams were led by private companies. DOE announced Xcimer’s selection for the milestone program in May 2023, with Xcimer leading a team of 9 institutions working to develop critical technologies and an integrated design and roadmap for deployment of an inertial fusion pilot plant within the next 10 years.
Xcimer will be moving its headquarters to the Denver, Colorado area in Q1 of 2024 and beginning construction of PHOENIX: a prototype excimer laser facility which will demonstrate a novel advance leading to the reduction in cost of laser fusion systems by up to a factor of 60. PHOENIX will be utilized by both Xcimer and the RISE Hub to develop technologies that will enable transformative new results in inertial fusion energy.
“We are tremendously excited to be working with these distinguished institutions to advance the development of inertial fusion technologies and start the next generation of publicly funded IFE research in the United States,” stated Conner Galloway, CEO and co-founder of Xcimer. “This work funded by DOE FES will accelerate public-private partnerships and lay the groundwork for the future of IFE.”
Xcimer’s mission is to create a better and more equitable world through economically attractive, abundant, and carbon-free fusion energy – enabled by a dramatic reduction in laser cost that drives game-changing simplifications to the design of a laser fusion power plant. Xcimer was founded in 2021 and has assembled a team of experts from U.S. national laboratories, academic institutions, and private industry to work together toward this mission.
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