Scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) are partnering with San Francisco Bay Area fusion energy startup Inertia Enterprises Inc. to advance fusion laser technology, as well as inertial fusion target manufacturing and designs. This collaboration is an expansive and integrated private sector-led partnership, unique in the history of LLNL and the DOE national laboratory system.
"We are committed to ensuring that the 60 years of public investment, fusion leadership, and scientific breakthroughs achieved here don't stay in the laboratory. This agreement, along with other public-private partnerships, is how we accelerate that effort," said Kim Budil, director of LLNL. "This partnership positions LLNL's world-leading expertise in inertial fusion science, laser technology, physics design and target fabrication to directly inform the industrial-scale development that commercial fusion demands."
"Fusion is one of the greatest scientific and technological challenges of our time, and it is one we simply cannot afford to lose. What makes this moment different is that we are no longer pursuing it in isolation," said Jean Paul Allain, director of the DOE Office of Fusion. "Through partnerships like this one, we are bringing together the full strength of our national labs, private industry and the broader innovation ecosystems to move from breakthrough to deployment."
"Decades of public investment in fusion science have created a foundation that only America's national labs could have built. Inertia exists to take that foundation and do what the private sector does best: build at scale and deliver commercial impact," said Jeff Lawson, CEO and co-founder of Inertia. "This partnership with LLNL ensures we're doing that with the full weight of their scientific expertise behind us."
This new collaboration consists of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) focused on laser development, as well as two Strategic Partnership Projects (SPP). One SPP advances fusion target design, while the other explores target-fabrication technologies.
LLNL's engagement in this partnership is managed by the Livermore Institute of Fusion Technology (LIFT), a newly established institute designed to strike breakthrough partnerships with the growing fusion energy industry, in collaboration with the Lab's Innovation and Partnerships Office (IPO), who facilitated the CRADA.
"This expansive partnership will apply the hard-won lessons of achieving fusion ignition at LLNL's National Ignition Facility toward making fusion energy a reality," said Tammy Ma, director of LIFT at LLNL. "We are excited to break new ground with Inertia as we continue establishing public-private partnerships that move fusion forward."
LIFT is uniquely positioned to help bridge the gap between research and future commercial fusion power by building collaborative frameworks supporting both startups and established companies with resources, expertise, and facilities to identify and tackle key scientific hurdles, while leaning on LLNL's historical expertise to support the development of infrastructure, supply chain and talent.
Looking ahead, LIFT will build on this partnership to establish new mechanisms for collaboration with private industry and advance foundational capabilities for fusion energy.
