Tokamak Energy’s U.S. subsidiary has been selected to participate in the Department of Energy’s Fusion Innovation Research Engine (FIRE) program, a $128 million initiative designed to accelerate critical fusion science on the path to commercialization.
As part of a consortium led by the University of Houston, Tokamak Energy Inc. will focus on developing advanced high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tapes engineered to better withstand the intense neutron irradiation expected inside a fusion power plant. The project targets one of the key materials challenges of commercial fusion: ensuring long-term durability of superconducting magnets that operate in extreme neutron environments.
This FIRE collaboration underscores Tokamak Energy’s expanding presence in the U.S. fusion ecosystem and its strategy of tackling complex engineering barriers through public-private partnerships.
Overview of the FIRE Award
The DOE’s FIRE program is structured as a network of multi-institutional teams linking U.S. laboratories, universities, and emerging private fusion firms. Seven teams were selected in the first round, each addressing a technical area essential to reactor development: advanced materials, tritium breeding and fuel-cycle systems, blanket technology, simulation and modeling, and enabling technologies.
Tokamak Energy’s FIRE project zeroes in on REBCO superconductors (rare-earth barium copper oxide tapes) and their resilience under sustained neutron exposure. HTS magnets based on REBCO are central to modern compact tokamak architectures because they generate exceptionally strong magnetic fields, enabling higher plasma pressures and improved confinement within smaller devices.
However, there’s a key unresolved issue: how these superconducting tapes degrade over years of neutron bombardment and thermal cycling. The University of Houston/Tokamak Energy collaboration aims to probe the mechanisms behind this degradation, quantify radiation-induced damage, and ultimately develop next-generation HTS tapes with improved radiation hardness and mechanical integrity.
Progress here would be a significant enabler for compact spherical tokamaks, where magnets are positioned closer to the plasma and thus experience higher neutron flux. Enhancing the resilience of HTS materials could extend magnet lifetimes, reduce shielding mass, and lower long-term maintenance costs, all of which would go a long way toward making fusion power plants economically viable.
Tokamak Energy’s investment in this area builds on its broader expertise in magnet technology. The company has even launched TE Magnetics, a dedicated division focused on commercializing its HTS magnet innovations for both fusion and adjacent industries such as particle accelerators and medical imaging.
Tokamak Energy’s experimental high-field spherical tokamak, ST40.
Tokamak Energy’s Broader Role Across FIRE Projects
Beyond the superconducting tape effort, Tokamak Energy Inc. plays a significant supporting role across the FIRE ecosystem. The company is reportedly serving as a technical advisor on eight separate FIRE projects, collaborating with national laboratories including Oak Ridge (ORNL), Savannah River (SRNL), Idaho (INL), Princeton Plasma Physics (PPPL), and Lawrence Livermore (LLNL), as well as several major research universities. These collaborations span a wide range of topics aligned with the remaining engineering hurdles on the road to a fusion pilot plant, from blanket system design to the development of radiation-resistant materials for divertors and first-wall components.
This extensive engagement gives Tokamak Energy access to experimental data, simulation infrastructure, and materials test facilities across the U.S. national lab network. Equally important, it allows the company to help steer public-sector research toward solutions directly relevant to near-term commercial deployment.
Few private fusion companies are as deeply integrated into this public research framework, and it’s a deliberate strategy. By participating across multiple FIRE teams, Tokamak Energy aims to systematically retire technical risks: validating magnet durability, modeling neutron effects, and refining the materials toolkit that will underpin its spherical tokamak devices.