MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — Dr. Scott Hsu, Program Director at ARPA-E, today announced at ICCF24 that ARPA–E is considering issuing a new Exploratory Topic to solicit applications for financial assistance in pursuit of diagnostic evidence of Low-Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR) that are convincing to the wider scientific community. Dr. Hsu, who is also Lead Fusion Coordinator in the Office of the Under Secretary for Science and Innovation, says this Exploratory Topic will be to establish clear practices to rigorously answer the question, “should this field move forward given that LENR could be a potentially transformative carbon-free energy source, or does it conclusively not show promise?”
In addition to announcing a Teaming Partner list, Dr. Hsu noted that ARPA-E is “f
ollowing up with a funding opportunity announcement anticipated in August 2022,” adding, “Why is there such hope for LENR? It may be the ideal form of nuclear energy if it can be demonstrated and scaled. It could be a disruptive energy technology that could have an influence on climate change and energy security.”
Over the past 2+ years, ARPA-E has revisited the history of LENR as a field, studied the literature, released a general RFI on nonconventional fusion approaches (that received many LENR-related responses), and held a LENR workshop. The workshop was attended by 100+ people, including long-time and newer LENR researchers, non-LENR researchers from adjacent research disciplines, and other interested stakeholders.
This ARPA-E announcement is to facilitate multidisciplinary teaming, especially among but not limited to LENR researchers and nuclear diagnostic experts. ARPA-E believes that such teaming will improve the chances of advancing the field of LENR. The FOA will provide specific program goals, technical metrics, and selection criteria.
To access the Teaming Partner List for the FOA, click here.
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