A. Lumsdaine
Oak Ridge National Laboratory,
United States
Keywords: fusion energy, public private partnerships, supply chain
Summary:
The development of fusion energy as a new, clean source of power will require the creation of new technologies and industries, and the expansion of and scale-up other industries. If fusion is to be possible on a decadal timescale, the technology creation and industry scale-up must happen in accelerated fashion, likely akin to what is seen in times of national crisis. The development times for many of the technologies necessary for this new energy source are very long, given their complexity. Additionally, many of the critical technologies are unique to the fusion environment (such as gyrotrons and components tolerant to the fusion neutron environment), and so these technologies cannot be leveraged from other industries. In order to reduce the timeline to serial fusion power plant production, the public sector can make contributions, supporting and incubating the supply chain in areas that are costly with very long prospects for return on investments. This talk will consider some areas where public-private partnerships could support the development of supply chains or sustains supply chains that have already been developed for one-off large public facilities.