ARPA-E Fusion Overview

Executive Summary

This presentation provides an overview of the ARPA-E fusion energy program, highlighting its evolution across major programs including ALPHA, BETHE, GAMOW, and CHADWICK over the past decade. It outlines ARPA-E's role in accelerating commercial fusion liftoff, reducing capital and operating expenditures, and supporting private fusion industry growth. Key agenda items, participant statistics, and future technical frontiers such as spin-polarized fusion and advanced fuels are also detailed.

Analysis Confidence: High

ST_CODE: DIALLO

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ARPA-E ARPA-E Fusion Overview 2025 Fusion Annual Meeting Dr. Ahmed Diallo Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) July 8, 2025 ARPA-E Fusion Team Program Directors: - Ahmed Diallo - Robert Ledoux - Emily Kinser - Bill Horak T2M Advisor: - Heather Jackson Fellow: - Ryan Chaban Support Service Contractors: Tech-SETAs: - Edward Cruz - Pankaj Trivedi - Curt Nehrkorn - Zia Rahman - Colin Gore - Eric Carlson - Mark Pouy - Gene Carpenter - Eaman Karim PM-SETAs: - Jay Patel - Grace Brach August 5, 2025 | 2 Meeting Objectives & Agenda - Invited Speakers - Networking - Fireside Chat - Poster Session - Project Updates Site Visit Later Today! Objectives: • Communicate progress and impact of ARPA-E fusion portfolio • Inform both ARPA-E and DOE fusion program development and management • Continue building networks among commercial fusion stakeholders Let’s have a great meeting! August 5, 2025 | 3 Meeting Statistics 16 fusion projects spanning 7 ARPA-E programs presenting Program | Principal Investigator | Prime Recipient BETHE | Feng Chu | LANL BETHE | Carlos Romero-Talamas | University of Maryland GAMOW | Richard Wirz | Oregon State University GAMOW | Ying Yang | ORNL OPEN 2021 | Kevin Woller | MIT OPEN 2021 | Nathaniel Fisch | Princeton University OPEN 2021 | Bedros Afeyan | Polymath Research, Inc. OPEN 2021 | Osman El Atwani | PNNL CREATE | Ara Knaian | NK Labs IGNIITE 2024 | Craig Cahillane | Syracuse University CHADWICK | April Novak | University of Illinois CHADWICK | Aurelien Perron | LLNL CHADWICK | Lance Snead | Stony Brook University OPEN 2024 | Vittorio Badalassi | ORNL OPEN 2024 | Adam Rutkowski | Marathon Fusion OPEN 2024 | Andrey Mironov | Xcimer Energy Programs: BETHE PROGRAM, GAMOW PROGRAM, OPEN 2021 PROGRAM, CREATE, IGNIITE PROGRAM, CHADWICK PROGRAM, VISION OPEN PROGRAM August 5, 2025 | 4 Framing of Fusion Energy Within ARPA-E World needs >500 EJ/year of abundance primary energy - Advanced nuclear fission - Fossil w/CCUS - Renewables + long-duration storage - Enhanced geothermal - Biofuels - Fusion Benefits: - Baseload and dispatchable power - Inherently safe and no high-level waste August 5, 2025 | 5 ARPA-E Can Accelerate Fusion Energy Towards Commercial Liftoff Timeline Stages: Research -> Development -> FPP Learning -> FOAK Success -> Liftoff -> Operations Milestones: - We are here - Fusion Pilot Plant - FOAK Fusion Power Plant - NOAK Fusion Power Plant Commercialization Valley of Death: Reduce CapEx and OpEx Through Targeted R&D, both CapEx and OpEx can be minimized! August 5, 2025 | 6 ARPA-E Fusion Timeline The ARPA-E Fusion portfolio has led the evolution of fusion in the past decade: - 2014: ALPHA ($33M) - New Concepts - 2017: OPEN 2018 ($11M) - 2019: BETHE ($43M) - Component Technology and Teams - 2020: GAMOW ($27M) - System Simplification and Cost Reduction - 2021: OPEN 2021 ($9M) - 2024: CHADWICK ($30M) - Technology for Longer Lasting Powerplants - 2025: OPEN 2024 ($19M) / VISION OPEN 2024 August 5, 2025 | 7 ARPA-E’s fusion programs helped forge a dramatically changed fusion R&D landscape over the past 7 years - New/renewed investigations of promising fusion concepts - From one (ITER) to multiple development paths - Enabling materials & technologies R&D focused on multiple, commercially oriented concepts - 7 new fusion companies - Formation of the Fusion Industry Association (FIA) (2018) - Focus on capital cost and projected LCOE - $743M (and growing) of private funding as a result of ARPA-E fusion awards - Broad engagement with commercialization stakeholders August 5, 2025 | 8 Opportunities for Disruption ARPA-E’s next fusion frontiers: Accelerating deployment & driving US technical superiority Programs progression: ALPHA ($33M, 2014) -> OPEN 2018 ($11M, 2017) -> BETHE ($43M, 2019) -> GAMOW ($27M, 2020) -> OPEN 2021 ($9M, 2021) -> CHADWICK ($30M, 2024) -> OPEN 2024 ($19M, 2024) Next Frontiers: - Spin-polarized fusion - Lasers for inertial confinement - Advanced fuels - Plasma heating system August 5, 2025 | 9 Let’s have a great meeting! Agenda Overview Day 1: 8:00 AM – Registration, Breakfast & Networking 9:00 AM – Day 1 Opening Remarks 9:20 AM – Invited Talks 10:45 AM – Performer Technical Highlights: Fusion Materials 12:00 PM – Lunch 1:00 PM – Invited Talks 1:20 PM – Performer Technical Highlights: Enabling Technologies 2:40 PM – Invited Talks 3:00 PM – Utility Fireside Chat 4:00 PM – Poster Session & Networking Reception 6:00 PM – End of Day 1 Day 2: 8:00 AM – Registration, Breakfast & Networking 9:00 AM – Day 2 Opening Remarks 9:05 AM – Invited Talks 9:35 AM – Performer Technical Highlights: Blanket Technologies 10:25 AM – Invited Talks 10:45 AM – Performer Technical Highlights: Novel Fusion Concepts 11:45 AM – Poster Session & Networking w/ Lunch 1:15 PM – Invited Talks 1:45 PM – DoD Fireside Chat 2:15 PM – Closing Remarks 2:30 PM – Adjourn August 5, 2025 | 10 ARPA-E | U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY arpa-e.energy.gov Social Media: - Facebook: @Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) - X (Twitter): @arpae - LinkedIn: @arpa-e August 5, 2025 | 11

ARPA-E ARPA-E Fusion Overview 2025 Fusion Annual Meeting Dr. Ahmed Diallo Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) July 8, 2025

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