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Fusion world

Launch of the Private Sector Fusion Engagement project

19 Nov 2024 - Laban Coblentz, Head of Communication

In recent years, ITER’s conversations with private sector fusion startups have followed a familiar refrain: “We don’t all agree on the best technological path to fusion power. We often disagree on the timeline to commercialization. But we largely agree on the challenges that remain. We certainly have the same end goal: the realization of fusion power as a safe, abundant source of clean energy. And—critically—we agree that sharing our knowledge, in the framework of a global fusion R&D innovation program, could help us all go faster.”

On 1 November 2024, ITER formally launched its new project for Private Sector Fusion Engagement (PSFE). The first exchanges with private sector startups have taken place, supported by the PSFE Help Desk (@email). Green light, go!

Some 50 CEOs and senior scientists from private fusion startups, along with industry suppliers and representatives from public laboratories joined staff from the ITER Domestic Agencies and the ITER Organization at ITER's May 2024 Private Sector Fusion Workshop that asked "How can ITER help?" Many left their signatures on the "Fusion energy for all, all for fusion energy!" poster. Now, the first exchanges on knowledge sharing are underway.

The PSFE project consolidates a year of listening, brainstorming and planning that followed the ITER Council’s November 2023 request for ITER to engage with private sector fusion initiatives, and that included an inaugural private-public sector workshop and input from follow-up surveys and discussions. The driver has been a series of questions, asked and answered repeatedly: How can ITER help? How can we effectively match the pace of private-sector demand, within resource constraints? And what are the structures, platforms and channels best suited to delivering?

The PSFE Help Desk will serve as the central coordination point for requests to access ITER documents, connections to ITER experts, and technical questions. Documents requested will be screened for defined criteria (e.g., export control restraints, protection of intellectual property), and the requesting entity will be asked to sign a user agreement. Technical visits by fusion startup companies can be requested through @email, or as before through @email, and will be referred to specific ITER divisions or experts, depending on the technical scope of the request. The results of these activities will be tracked for efficiency and value delivered.

Other PSFE-related initiatives are progressing. The ITER-developed Integrated Modelling Analysis Suite (IMAS) software, which contains advanced tools to organize and manipulate fusion data, is ready for imminent open-sourced release, meeting a longstanding request of the private sector. The ITER Design Handbook, a multi-year effort to systematically document the knowledge gained to date in the design, manufacturing, construction, installation, and assembly of the ITER facility, is well underway with internal and external support. Discussions are progressing on how to enable private sector participation in the International Tokamak Physics Activity (ITPA) and its associated subgroups, including those focused on engineering topics. Reference catalogues of available fusion resources—technical experts, supplier companies capable of providing fusion-related technologies, and specific capacities (e.g., testing capabilities) of public sector facilities—are being compiled. Other channels of engagement are in development.

A marriage of the public and private sector, on any area of cutting-edge R&D, is a complex endeavour. But the hoped-for results will be worth it: a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. 

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