Collaborative Research on International and Domestic Spherical Tokamaks | DE FOA 0002693

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002693

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, through its Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) program, released a discretionary grant funding opportunity titled "Collaborative Research on International and Domestic Spherical Tokamaks" (Funding Opportunity Number DE-FOA-0002693). The opportunity is focused on supporting research and development that uses spherical tokamak facilities, including both U.S.-based machines and international partners, with an emphasis on collaborative efforts. At a high level, the DOE is looking for proposals that strengthen the scientific understanding of magnetically confined plasmas and advance practical methods for controlling plasma behavior, which are central challenges on the path toward fusion energy.

The core scientific motivation behind this call is the recognized value of the spherical tokamak concept to fusion science. Spherical tokamaks are a tokamak variant characterized by a more compact, "cored apple"-like shape and high plasma beta (meaning they can confine plasmas where the plasma pressure is a relatively large fraction of the magnetic pressure). These devices have been important for exploring plasma stability, confinement, turbulence, and boundary physics in regimes that complement those studied on conventional aspect-ratio tokamaks. By explicitly calling out domestic and international spherical tokamak facilities, the DOE is signaling interest in coordinated research campaigns that leverage unique capabilities across different machines, share experimental time and data, and build a broader empirical and theoretical basis for plasma performance and control.

From a programmatic standpoint, the opportunity sits within the DOE Office of Science mission space and is categorized under "Science and Technology and other Research and Development" with CFDA number 81.049. The funding instrument type is a grant, and the opportunity category is discretionary, which generally means awards are competitive and based on merit review, alignment with program priorities, and available appropriations. The eligible applicant pool is listed as "Unrestricted," indicating that the solicitation is open broadly rather than being limited to a narrow class of institutions, which can include universities, national laboratories, private entities, nonprofits, and other organizations that meet DOE requirements.

In terms of funding scale, the listed award ceiling is $6,666,666. While the number of expected awards is not specified in the provided details, the ceiling gives a sense of the maximum size for an individual award under this announcement and suggests DOE is prepared to support substantial, multi-year, multi-institution research efforts if justified by scope and impact. The posting was created on March 17, 2022, and the original closing date was May 5, 2022, reflecting a typical DOE Office of Science application window where teams must assemble technical narratives, management plans, and collaboration structures on a relatively tight timeline.

What DOE is effectively seeking are well-structured collaborative research proposals that use spherical tokamak experiments and associated modeling, theory, and diagnostics to address key questions in magnetically confined plasma dynamics and control. "Dynamics" in this context commonly includes issues like stability limits (including disruptions and fast events), transport and turbulence, energetic particle behavior, and interactions between the plasma core and the edge. "Control" points to techniques and tools that can shape plasma profiles, maintain stable operating scenarios, mitigate damaging transient events, and improve performance predictability. Because spherical tokamaks can access distinctive operating regimes, work conducted on these facilities often provides insights that transfer to the broader fusion program, including the development and validation of physics models and real-time control approaches.

Overall, this funding opportunity is designed to accelerate progress in fusion plasma science by encouraging coordinated use of spherical tokamak facilities, strengthening partnerships across institutions and national boundaries, and producing results that improve understanding and controllability of magnetically confined plasmas. The solicitation communicates DOE FES interest in research that is both scientifically rigorous and operationally collaborative, with outcomes that contribute directly to the Fusion Energy Sciences mission of advancing the foundations needed for fusion energy.

• The Office of Science in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Collaborative Research on International and Domestic Spherical Tokamaks" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.049.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2022-03-17.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-05-05. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $6,666,666.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

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