College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences

Fusion energy could move closer to commercial viability with Clemson University’s help

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Mik Carbajales-Dale of Clemson University is taking part in a $107-million plan funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to accelerate the viability of commercial fusion energy.

Carbajales-Dale, an associate professor of environmental engineering and Earth sciences, plans to perform a life-cycle assessment on fuels used to produce fusion energy.

Mik Carbajales-Dale

He is part of a collaborative project called FC FIRE, which is led by Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). FC FIRE is among six projects sharing in the Energy Department funding.

Carbajales-Dale said he will focus on “whether there are any environmental challenges to scale up nuclear fusion, specifically in regards to fuel cycle.”

Fusion powers the sun and other stars and has been seen as a potential source of terrestrial commercial energy for about 70 years.

Investment began growing quickly after scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility reported in late 2022 they had achieved ignition

Researchers said that while ignition was a major breakthrough, many technical challenges remain before fusion can become a commercially viable source of energy.

Most modern fusion devices use deuterium and tritium as fuel, and temperatures need to reach about 150 million degrees Celsius to make them fuse, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Carbajales-Dale, who also heads the Clemson Energy-Economy-Environment (E3) Systems Analysis Group, said his part of the FC FIRE project will focus primarily on how tritium is produced and stored and how to deal with waste. The overarching question guiding his end of the project will be how to deliver enough tritium to keep reactors running indefinitely. He plans to hire a postdoctoral researcher to help with the project.

“We’ll be employing the TELECAST technique,” he said. “That’s combining techno-economic analysis with lifecycle assessment, and then specifically looking at early stage technologies and trying to forecast what those technologies might look like and what their economic and environmental impact might look like at full scale.”

FC FIRE is a collaborative team of national lab, university and industry partners created to develop the fuel cycle essential for fusion energy. The FC FIRE Collaborative creates a broad team that will interactively research critical fuel cycle topics.

Members of the FC-FIRE Collaborative include:
· SRNL
· Clemson University
· Los Alamos National Laboratory
· Oak Ridge National Laboratory
· Idaho National Laboratory
· Sandia National Laboratory
· General Atomics
· University of South Carolina
· University of Rochester – Laboratory for Laser Energetics
· University of Tennessee – Knoxville
· University of Wisconsin – Madison
· Columbia University
· University of Massachusetts – Lowell
· Georgia Institute of Technology

FC FIRE will also incorporate input from a variety of fusion stakeholders including:
· Tokamak Energy
· Xcimer Energy Corporation
· Commonwealth Fusion Systems
· Focused Energy
· Realta Fusion Inc.
· Type One Energy
· Thea Energy
· General Fusion
· Stellarex
· Kyoto Fusioneering
· EPRI
· Marathon Fusion
· Longview Fusion Energy Systems
· Canadian Nuclear Laboratories
· United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
· Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
· Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
· Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (STARFIRE Hub)
· The IFE-STAR Coordination Hub
· The Pacific Northwest National Lab IDREAM EFRC

“SRNL is leading FC-FIRE efforts to advance the fusion fuel cycle through process modeling, process technology development and tritium material solutions development,” said Brenda Garcia-Diaz, SRNL’s Advisory Program Manager for Fusion Energy and FC-Fire Director. “The collaborative will also tackle cross-cutting issues such as byproduct material handling and fuel cycle workforce development. FC-FIRE combines SRNL’s expertise with that of the collaborative’s partners to tackle the most challenging technical problems in the development of fuel cycles for commercial fusion energy,” said Garcia-Diaz.

The FIRE Collaboratives are aimed at creating a fusion energy science and technology innovation ecosystem by forming virtual, centrally managed teams called “Collaboratives” that have a collective goal of bridging DOE’s Fusion Energy Sciences basic science research programs with the needs of the growing fusion industry.

“As the world races to make fusion a viable source of energy for industry and consumers, these programs signal that the U.S. intends to be the first to commercialize fusion energy through strong partnerships among our National Laboratories, universities, and the private sector to realize industry-led designs for fusion pilot plants,” said Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk.

Tanju Karanfil, senior vice president for research, scholarship and creative endeavors at Clemson, said: “We are thrilled to partner with such a talented and dynamic team to advance fusion energy research, a field that holds incredible promise for shaping a sustainable and secure energy future. Collaborations like these exemplify Clemson’s commitment to tackling the world’s most pressing challenges through innovation.”

This initiative represents a significant step forward in FES’s commitment to advancing fusion energy research and development, and aims to create new economic opportunities, maintain U.S. leadership in fusion, bolster U.S.-based manufacturing and supply chains, and enable the development of technologies crucial for national security, energy security, and defense.

The list of projects and more information can be found on the Fusion Energy Sciences program homepage.

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