Fusion Materials

Fusion energy poses the ultimate challenge in materials science and engineering. The internal components of fusion reactors must be able to survive the harshest possible conditions, a combination of extreme radiation, high heat, mechanical stress and volatile chemical environments. 

The development of materials that can withstand such an operating environment is the overall goal of the research done by Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Fusion Materials Program. It is the largest program of its kind in the U.S. and an internationally recognized research center, and routinely hosts collaborative projects with researchers from all over the world. 

The program conducts both experimental and computational research with a central focus on understanding the fusion nuclear environment and its underlying physical mechanisms, with the end goal of using these insights to create new materials needed to realize viable commercial fusion energy. 

To that end, the program makes extensive use of the neutron irradiation capabilities of ORNL’s High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR), which provides a partial simulation of the nuclear environment created inside a deuterium–tritium fusion power system. Separate experimental systems evaluate the compatibility of solid materials with liquid metals and molten salts, which may be used in coolant mechanisms or fuel breeders. Other facilities at ORNL are able to simulate the plasma exposure, high temperature, high heat and mechanically stressed environments expected in fusion energy systems. 

In addition to these capabilities, the Fusion Materials Program’s parent organization — the Materials Science and Technology Division — also operates scientific instruments in unique radiological materials examination facilities, such as the Low Activation Materials Development and Analysis (LAMDA) laboratory and the Irradiated Materials Examination and Testing (IMET) hot cells facility. IMET is used for disassembly of HFIR irradiation experiments and for testing of specimens with high levels of radioactivity. Materials with lower levels of radioactivity, which can be examined without the need for remote operations, are examined at LAMDA, a lab dedicated to the characterization of radiological materials through thermophysical, mechanical and microstructural analysis. 

ORNL’s Fusion Materials Program is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fusion Energy Sciences initiative, as well as other DOE program offices, international government agencies, and various parties from the private sector.