Savannah River National Laboratory Receives $6M to Lead Projects Advancing Fusion Energy Research

AIKEN, S.C. (Oct. 29, 2024) – Savannah River National Laboratory will receive $6 million to lead two projects related to Laboratory Foundational Science Programs in Fusion Materials, Nuclear Science, and Enabling Technologies.

The two projects receiving funding include: 1) Non-Aqueous 2-D Material Based Hydrogen Isotope Separation, led by principal investigator Dale Hitchcock; and 2) Development and De-risking of Li Electrolysis and CoRExt Process by Flow-Loop Integration, led by principal investigators Luke Olson and Christopher Dandeneau.  The projects focus on challenges in fuel cycle and blanket technologies, and tritium interactions with materials.

“Both projects will develop novel technologies invented at SRNL and provide the resources to increase the technology readiness level of the methods,” said SRNL Advisory Program Manager, Fusion Energy, Brenda Garcia Diaz.  “The projects engage SRNL partners at other national laboratories and universities that will assist in advancing and demonstrating the technologies.”

Most concepts for commercial fusion power will use deuterium and tritium fuel. In those devices the isotopic makeup of the fuel inside the reactor is critical to maintain a burning plasma. As such, hydrogen isotope separation is a critical technology for a commercially viable fusion power plant. Traditional techniques for hydrogen isotope separation are energy intensive, require low temperatures, a large footprint, or some combination of the three.  The 2D isotope separation project proposes to develop a continuous and more energy efficient method for hydrogen isotope separation based on 2D material coated solid state proton conducting ceramics.

“Isotope separation is a slow and expensive process,” said Hitchcock. “Our patented technology using 2D materials to separate hydrogen isotopes could significantly reduce the capital and operational costs associated with tritium processing in a fusion power plant.”

Fusion reactors will need to make and extract their own tritium fuel to be sustainable.  Research led by principal investigators Luke Olson and Christopher Dandeneau seeks to simplify and reduce costs for extracting tritium from two leading fluids the fusion community and many private fusion startups are investigating.  Tritium extraction technologies that SRNL have shown to work on benchtops will be scaled up to better match expected fusion plant conditions through partnerships with Idaho National Laboratory and with Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

“The scale-up of these tritium separation methods for use in molten metal and molten salt tritium breeders will significantly derisk and improve the technology readiness levels of these SRNL developed methods, said Olson.  “They have the potential to significantly simplify and improve tritium separation compared to the status quo.”

“The tritium extraction methods developed by SRNL are dependent on durable materials operating in harsh, corrosive environments,” said Dandeneau.  “Interactions of these materials with tritium, lithium and molten salts can greatly reduce operating lifetimes.  Our team will leverage expertise at SRNL in creating new materials that can tackle these challenges.”

The Laboratory Foundational Science Programs in Fusion Materials, Nuclear Science, and Enabling Technologies span functional and structural materials for heating technology, magnet technology, blankets, fuel cycle, and first wall. The purpose of the funding is to address scientific gaps foundational to enabling fusion energy, and reorient the laboratory-based foundational and basic science research programs to better align and support the new Fusion Energy Sciences program vision. 

About Savannah River National Laboratory Savannah River National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy multi-program research and development center that’s managed and operated by Battelle Savannah River Alliance, LLC (BSRA) for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management.   SRNL puts science to work to protect the nation by providing practical, cost-effective solutions to the nation’s environmental, nuclear security, nuclear materials management, and energy manufacturing challenges (www.srnl.gov).