The Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and fusion energy consultancy Rutherford Energy Ventures LP (REV) have officially begun development of a new public-private partnership framework to create shared fusion testbed infrastructure at ORNL. The new consortium model, known as the Fusion Upscaled Leveraged Consortia for Rapid Acceleration (FULCRA), is designed to address key gaps identified in the DOE Fusion Science and Technology Roadmap by providing a novel design and funding model for "Fulcrum" test facilities at national laboratories.
The cost would be high for any one organization to build the integrated test facilities required to validate commercial designs and advance the readiness of critical fusion plant components. The consortium model pools federal capabilities with private sector investment to build specialized testbeds for validating critical fusion subsystems, like plasma-facing components, fuel breeding blankets and reactor-compatible sensors and control systems. This testbed infrastructure will translate decades of foundational research investment into world-class infrastructure that would be shared with the broader community.
The collaboration combines ORNL's deep expertise in fusion science and technology, an established partnership network and unique facilities with REV's technical fusion knowledge and specialty in capital and ecosystem development.
"ORNL's leadership in fusion science, materials and neutron science makes it well-suited to anchor this shared infrastructure. This collaboration gives us the opportunity to build a partnership model that can serve the entire fusion ecosystem and be replicated across the national laboratory system," said Troy Carter, director of ORNL's Fusion Energy Division.
REV, a venture capital firm, was founded by two MIT professors, Dennis G. Whyte - who invented the world's strongest high temperature superconducting magnets that are key to fusion technology - and Andrew Lo - who designed the financial model that launched the U.S. biotech industry - to spur the private funding of the fusion ecosystem. Their combined expertise in both plasma science and financial engineering makes REV the leading fusion energy catalyst in the private space.
"The fusion field has the science. What it has lacked is the testing infrastructure to translate that science into validated, commercial-ready technology, and no single entity can build that alone. FULCRA is designed to solve exactly that problem, anchored at ORNL where the scientific foundation already exists," said Guinevere Shaw, REV partner and managing director.
The FULCRA effort is structured in two integrated phases across 18 months. In the first half, REV will conduct a collaborative assessment of ORNL's fusion-relevant capabilities, infrastructure and ongoing programs across three major technology domains: fusion-enabling technologies, fusion blankets for reactor shielding and fuel breeding, and a neutron source capable of producing fusion-level neutron energies. They will also evaluate the lab's partnership framework and engage with the private sector to understand industry needs and investor interest.
In the second phase, the team will select and develop a technical blueprint, financial framework and operating model for a pilot Fulcrum at ORNL. The completed Fulcrum will be a shared-use, high-impact research facility and strategic investment opportunity for commercial partners to cost-effectively develop high-impact components and commercial technology.
As the framework matures, lessons learned from the pilot Fulcrum will be turned into a replicable model to develop additional Fulcra at ORNL and other national labs. This will create the infrastructure required to de-risk the critical systems needed for future fusion pilot plants, build the fusion workforce and accelerate fusion energy commercialization.
"ORNL has spent decades building its fusion program and relationships across the public and private sectors. The lab is positioned to be a national leader to meet today's challenges, not just as a research institution, but as a partner and collaborator towards commercialization," said Arnold Lumsdaine, public-private partnerships lead in ORNL's Fusion Energy Division.
For additional details, read the initial FULCRA announcement from Dec. 2025.
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy's Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science .
REV, a fusion-focused venture capital fund based in Cambridge, Mass., bridges fusion science with business markets, providing technical and financial consulting for fusion energy investment and the design of public-private frameworks for fusion energy commercialization. For more information, visit https://www.rutherfordev.com/ .
