“A bill to amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to reestablish an office relating to fusion.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section establishes within the Department of Energy (DOE) the Office of Fusion, headed by a Director appointed by the Secretary of Energy, to advance near-term and long-term fusion energy science and technology through 10 specified purposes. Those purposes include managing public-private partnerships via a new Fusion Innovation Center to accelerate deployment of first commercial fusion power plants with a goal to start construction of more than one private-sector plant by December 31, 2028; ensuring a national fusion supply chain; coordinating DOE offices and the National Nuclear Security Administration; expanding workforce training; and providing regulatory expertise. The section directs the Secretary to (1) conduct stakeholder outreach to identify and transfer relevant commercially oriented fusion programs (e.g., from the Office of Science) to the new Office and develop a transfer timeline; (2) require the Office Director to consult private sector, National Laboratories, and institutions of higher education; (3) submit to Congress within 180 days of enactment a commercial fusion deployment roadmap identifying barriers and milestones (with updates every four years or appended to other reports); and (4) base the Fusion Innovation Center at a qualified National Laboratory or university with demonstrated fusion advances, Office of Science funding, and burning plasma facilities. This section further adds fusion energy resources to the responsibilities of the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (i.e., under DOE organizational act §203(a)(2)) and makes a clerical amendment to the act's table of contents.