WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, issued the following statement after the Department of Energy (DOE) announced $42 million in funding for a program to establish three hubs to advance inertial fusion energy, including $16 million for a hub led by the DOE’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California:

“The potential of fusion energy represents a new frontier in our efforts to produce clean, dependable energy that sustainably powers our nation. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has long been an international leader in advancing inertial fusion energy, having facilitated the first-ever successful fusion ignition to produce net positive energy in 2022. I applaud this critical funding for a fusion energy hub, and I am excited to see the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory spearhead this effort with partners across California and the country on the heels of last year’s breakthrough.”

Funded by the Inertial Fusion Energy Science and Technology Accelerated Research program, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will lead a multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary hub called the “National Science and Technology Accelerated Research for Fusion Innovation & Reactor Engineering hub.” This hub includes several other California partners: Livermore Lab Foundation, Longview Fusion Energy Systems, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Xcimer Energy Corp, and the University of California, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

In January, Senator Padilla and Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.-18) pushed President Biden to support the inclusion of over $1 billion for the Fusion Energy Sciences program within the DOE’s Office of Science, consistent with the amount authorized in the CHIPS and Science Act.

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