In June the Department of Energy (DOE) formally approved Xcimer Energy’s preconceptual design and technology development roadmap milestone for Athena, the company’s architecture for fusion power plants. Designed for continuous operation, industrial scale, and a fuel cycle that renews itself, Athena integrates the company’s proprietary excimer laser platform with target delivery, fusion chamber, tritium breeding, and power generation systems engineered from the outset for industrial scale.
The DOE’s acceptance of the Athena design followed Xcimer’s completion of earlier programme milestones during the first 18-month budget period in the milestone programme. The company said its next phases of work include full-scale subsystem testing, engineering validation, and preparation for an integrated plant demonstration.
Xcimer to commercialising laser-inertial fusion in February this year. In June it also announced the start of operations for Phoenix, its prototype system, which it describes as the largest privately-owned laser system in the world. It is targeting electricity on the grid in the mid-2030s.
DOE Under Secretary for Science Darío Gil said: “The Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program is built to turn American scientific leadership into commercial capability by putting private capital and private-sector execution behind ambitious, measurable goals. Xcimer is making real progress toward a new generation of laser fusion technology, and this award will help accelerate that work.”
Xcimer says that its approach to laser fusion differs from those relying “on large numbers of solid-state laser beams and expensive optical components” with Xcimer using “cost-effective gas lasers, durable gas optics and a two-beamline configuration designed to deliver megajoule-scale laser energy repeatedly and economically”. The DOE funding will be paid out as agreed milestones are achieved.
Conner Galloway, co-founder and CEO of Xcimer Energy, said: “This additional milestone funding gives us another powerful mechanism to accelerate that work while keeping the majority of the investment and risk in the private sector. We are building the laser, manufacturing systems and supply chain required to make commercial laser fusion possible.”
