Multiple Bottlenecks Face New Nuclear Builds

Report: Key Bottlenecks Facing New Reactor Builds

Oklo’s Atomic Alchemy Granted NRC License for Isotope Production

TerraPower Isotopes Announces cGMP Manufacturing Facility

Key Contracts Awarded in UK Fusion Program

General Matter to Export American Nuclear Fuel to Japan

Aalo Completes Assembly of Micro Test Reactor at INL

Key Contracts Awarded in UK Fusion Program

EU €330 Million in Funding for Fusion Energy, Nuclear Medicine

Realta Fusion and Kyoto Fusioneering Forge Strategic Partnership

Helical Fusion Announces Construction Start in Japan

DOE Offers $230M for National Science Challenges

Report: Key Bottlenecks Face New Reactor Builds

A new report from the Nuclear Scaling Initiative (NSI), Landscape of U.S. Domestic Advanced Nuclear Energy Supply Chain, with support from the Bezos Earth Fund, identifies solutions and coordinated strategies to assist in scaling the deployment of advanced nuclear energy and overcome bottlenecks in the supply chain. 

As policymakers and industry leaders seek to expand advanced reactor capacity to meet rising electricity demand and strengthen energy security, the report finds that a self-reinforcing cycle of market paralysis — in which suppliers hesitate to invest without firm demand signals and buyers hesitate to commit without supply chain certainty — is suppressing manufacturing expansion, fuel supply, and workforce growth.  

The report, commissioned by NSI and prepared by energy consultancy Solestiss, is part of a broader effort to accelerate the deployment of advanced nuclear energy in the United States by strengthening supply chains, improving procurement transparency, and enabling more coordinated investment across the nuclear ecosystem. ( Full report PDF File 73 pages)

NSI – Key bottlenecks facing developers of nuclear reactors in the U.S. 
Image: Google Gemini Pro via Neutron Bytes

“As this report makes clear, advanced nuclear energy will not scale if suppliers and buyers continue to treat investment risk like it’s someone else’s problem,” said Steve Comello, executive director of NSI.

“But solutions are within reach. When buyers come together around durable, multi-unit reactor orderbooks, capital can begin to move with confidence — and that confidence translates into more factories, trained workers, qualified suppliers, and gigawatts on the grid. By aligning demand signals with workforce development, we can unlock a repeatable model for building nuclear energy at scale.”

“The Bezos Earth Fund supports strategies and solutions to accelerate clean power that are not only low carbon, but also reliable, affordable and buildable at scale,” said Nicole Iseppi, director of energy innovation at the Bezos Earth Fund.

“Meeting rising electricity demand while reducing emissions will require large-scale invention and collaboration. This report helps to clarify what it will take to strengthen the U.S. domestic nuclear supply chain so advanced nuclear reactors can move from invention to scalable execution. That is critical for climate, for energy security, and for building a cleaner grid with a small land footprint. We’re proud to support NSI’s latest research.”

The analysis examines key segments of the domestic supply chain for large light-water reactors, small modular reactors (Gen III+ and Gen IV), and microreactors across three core areas: fuel supply; systems, structures, and components; and the skilled workforce required to build and operate plants.

Key findings include:

Fuel supply constraints are structural and sequential:

The low-enriched uranium supply chain is technically mature but has limited capacity, and aggressive deployment could create bottlenecks. For high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU), the United States lacks commercial-scale enrichment, deconversion, certified transport, and fabrication capacity. Plutonium-bearing fuels raise considerable infrastructure and security concerns that neutralize their viability for scaling for the foreseeable future.

Manufacturing bottlenecks are increasingly downstream:

Constraints lie in machining, welding, finishing, inspection, and non-destructive examination. These specialized manufacturing steps require nuclear-qualified facilities and highly trained workers, and are difficult to sequence. The result is that throughput — not just factory count — governs scale.

Labor shortages extend beyond construction trades:

Workforce gaps include nuclear-qualified machinists, welders, inspectors, non-destructive examination specialists, and experienced project managers. These roles take years to train and compete with other industrial megaprojects, creating schedule and execution risks across reactor builds.

“The U.S. advanced nuclear supply chain is caught up in a complex geopolitical landscape,” said Dillon Allen, president at Solestiss.

Geopolitical Constraints on Fuel Supplies

Current supply chains rely heavily on Russia and China for lithium-7, nuclear-grade graphite, and uranium conversion and enrichment. Downstream manufacturing bottlenecks and a shortage of skilled nuclear labor only add to that risk, meaning that without coordinated investment and workforce development, the United States may struggle to deploy nuclear energy at the scale needed to meet long-term energy demand”

Solutions to Break the Bottlenecks

To break the cycle of market paralysis, the report outlines a series of interconnected recommendations for stakeholders across the nuclear ecosystem to reduce uncertainty, unlock investment, and accelerate supply chain scale-up:

Provide durable policy clarity, accelerate deployment of appropriated funding with clear down-selections, aggregate or backstop early demand, and act selectively as a market-maker for HALEU.

Regulators and standards organizations:

Expand and formalize alternative quality assurance pathways and enable repeatable approvals for validated manufacturing methods.

Industry (engineering, procurement, and construction firms; original equipment manufacturers; and suppliers):

Address downstream bottlenecks by strengthening machining, welding, and inspection capacity; embedding design-for-manufacturability early; and standardizing designs to reduce fragmentation.

Utilities, offtakers, and capital providers:

Close bankability gaps by converting expressions of interest into firm, long-duration commitments; supporting fleet-style procurement models and standardized commercial structures; and aligning contracting strategies with supply chain and workforce realities.

Workforce and training institutions:

Scale skilled labor pipelines — particularly in manufacturing, inspection, and project management — in alignment with realistic deployment sequencing and verified manufacturing demand to prevent timing mismatches that could delay projects.

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Oklo’s Atomic Alchemy Granted NRC License for Isotope Production

Oklo  (NYSE: OKLO) business unit Atomic Alchemy has been granted a license to recover and prepare isotope materials used across medicine, research, advanced manufacturing, and national security, and enables Atomic Alchemy to begin initial commercial sales from its Idaho Radiochemistry Laboratory. This is Oklo’s first NRC-issued license and supports the transition from design and planning to real-world execution and progress.

The license, granted to Atomic Alchemy after NRC review and onsite inspection of the Idaho facility, authorizes the company to receive, possess, use, store, and conduct chemical and/or mechanical processing, repackaging, manufacturing, and distribution activities involving up to 2 Curies (Cis) of Ra-226.

It also authorizes possession, use, and storage of sealed sources of Co-60 and Am-241 for instrument and shield calibration and testing. By recovering and processing material such as disused radium sources, currently managed as waste, Atomic Alchemy expects to create a valuable feedstock to support medical isotope production, including targeted alpha therapy supply chains.

“Demand for critical isotopes is rising, but U.S. supply remains limited,” says Oklo CEO and co-founder Jacob DeWitte. “This work helps create a more resilient and dependable domestic supply chain of isotopes and supports the transition from early operations to durable, commercial isotope production in the United States.”

The isotopes will be received and processed at Atomic Alchemy’s Idaho Radiochemistry Laboratory in Idaho Falls, ID. Distribution activities are limited to appropriately authorized recipients consistent with NRC requirements.

Operating experience from the laboratory will help develop processes, procedures, and systems that can be applied to Atomic Alchemy’s planned multi-reactor isotope foundry. The foundry is planned to include up to four non-power Versatile Isotope Production Reactor (VIPR) systems with a capacity of around 15 MWth each. The light-water-cooled, pool-type reactor is intended to support production of isotopes for medical and healthcare, industrial, space, defense, and research applications.

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TerraPower Isotopes Announces cGMP Manufacturing Facility

 This new facility will expand TPI’s actinium-225 production twentyfold.

TerraPower Isotopes (TPI) announced that the company is building its flagship current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) actinium-225 (ac-225), a synthetic isotope, manufacturing facility in the Bellwether District of Philadelphia, PA. TPI’s development of an East Coast manufacturing facility, along with expanding capacity in its existing Everett, Washington will increase production capacity 20-fold and position the company as the premier global distributor of ac-225. The project features a multi-year buildout, with production of cGMP actinium-225 beginning in 2029.

Alpha emitters such as actinium-225 are favored in cancer treatment because of the short range (a few cell diameters) of alpha particles in tissue and their high energy, rendering them highly effective in targeting and killing cancer cells—specifically, alpha particles are more effective at breaking DNA strands. The 10-day half-life of 225Ac is long enough to facilitate distribution, but short enough that little remains in the body months after treatment.

TerraPower Isotopes product actinium-225 is currently being utilized in human clinical trials around the world. This new cGMP Bellwether Laboratory will further expand ac-225’s supply, certify the product with cGMP standards, and increase production levels overall to support growing global drug development needs.

“TerraPower’s mission is to deliver new technologies to market that can improve lives; and the work our TerraPower Isotopes team is doing shows real promise in supporting the expansion of a diverse suite of cancer treatments using nuclear medicine,” said TerraPower president and CEO Chris Levesque.

“This new facility will help us increase the global supply of actinium-225 and increase access for researchers and drug developers who are advancing new cancer treatments.”

TPI evaluated over 350 potential sites across the United States in a rigorous site selection process that included 49 site visits in eight metropolitan areas. The Bellwether District is uniquely positioned to offer the scale, proximity to critical infrastructure, and access to a robust life sciences and medical ecosystem that is critical to TPI and the radiopharmaceutical industry.

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General Matter to Export American Nuclear Fuel to Japan

The business is backed by up to $2.4 billion in EXIM financing

General Matter announced it will export American nuclear fuel to Japan, supported by the Export-Import Bank. The agency issued formal letters of interest for the financing, earmarking up to $2.4 billion for Japanese utilities and $1.8 billion for South Korean operators. The capital is intended to fund the purchase of low-enriched uranium (LEU) from General Matter.

The company is aggressively scaling its U.S. capacity to serve both the existing global reactor fleet and the next generation of advanced reactors.

According to Ex-Im Bank Chairman John Jovanovic, the move is central to America’s “long-term economic and strategic strength.” By subsidizing the shift toward U.S.-enriched fuel, the bank is attempting to mitigate the risk of supply disruptions that have plagued the sector since the escalation of global conflicts.

The transaction marks a significant win for General Matter, positioning the firm as a primary Western alternative to state-backed enrichment entities in Eurasia.

The announcement was made at the inaugural Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum (IPEM) in Tokyo, Japan, co-hosted by the U.S. National Energy Dominance Council and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

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Aalo Completes Assembly of Micro Test Reactor at INL

(WNN) Aalo Atomics has held a ceremony last week to unveil its completed Critical Test Reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory. The company said it expects the reactor to achieve criticality “well before” the July deadline.
 
Austin, TX, based Aalo was named in August last year by the US Department of Energy (DOE) as one of 11 advanced reactor projects initially selected for support through its Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program, which aims to see at least three of them achieve criticality by 4 July this year.

Two weeks after being selected, the company broke ground on a plot of land at the border of Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to start construction of its first experimental extra modular nuclear reactor, the Aalo-X.

The Aalo Reactor at INL.  Image: Aalo

Aalo-X has been manufactured at Aalo’s pilot factory in Austin, TX, before being transported to and installed at the INL site. The test reactor is the precursor to the Aalo Pod, a 50 MWe XMR (Extra Modular Reactor) power plant purpose-built for data centers. Each modular Aalo Pod will contain five factory built, sodium-cooled, Aalo-1 reactors, using low-enriched uranium dioxide fuel. The company says it will be in commercial use by 2029.

The company, which was founded in 2023, announced earlier this month that it had signed a fuel fabrication contract with Global Nuclear Fuel – a GE Vernova-led alliance with Hitachi Ltd and affiliate of GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy – for fuel to power Aalo-X.

The other companies selected by the DOE for support under the Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program are: Antares Nuclear Inc; Atomic Alchemy Inc; Deep Fission Inc; Last Energy Inc; Natura Resources LLC; Oklo Inc (selected for two projects); Radiant Industries Inc; Terrestrial Energy Inc; and Valar Atomics Inc.

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Key Contracts Awarded in UK Fusion Program

(WNN) The ILIOS consortium has been appointed as the construction partner for the UK’s STEP Fusion program, while Kinectrics has been named as the design and fabrication partner for the UKAEA-Eni H3AT Tritium Loop Facility. The appointments came as the government published its Fusion Energy Strategy.
 
In October 2022, the West Burton coal-fired power plant site in Nottinghamshire, England, was selected to host the UK’s Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP). The demonstration plant is due to begin operating by 2040.

The technical objectives of STEP are:

deliver predictable net electricity greater than 100 MW;

innovate to exploit fusion energy beyond electricity production;

ensure tritium self-sufficiency; to qualify materials and components under appropriate fusion conditions; and

develop a viable path to affordable lifecycle costs.

ILIOS – a consortium led by Kier and Nuvia venture with AECOM, architects AL_A and Turner & Townsend, providing specialist support – has now been appointed by UK Industrial Fusion Solutions (UKIFS) – soon to be renamed UK Fusion Energy – to deliver the first three-year, GBP200 million ($267 million) tranche of the STEP fusion program. The appointment covers the design and build of a world-leading prototype fusion power plant and forms part of a wider program with future opportunities valued at up to GBP10 billion.

The consortium will be responsible for the design and construction of all buildings, infrastructure and facilities on the STEP site as well as supporting the construction and interface of the wider power plant. Works will include site management, design, construction, program planning, supply chain management, progress monitoring, project controls and constructability assurance, ensuring all activities are fully coordinated with project stakeholders and compliant with all relevant requirements and standards.

“The appointment of ILIOS as our construction partner marks a significant milestone for the STEP program,” said Paul Methven, CEO of UKIFS and Responsible Officer for STEP Fusion.

Tritium Fuel Cycle Facility

Separately the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and Italian multinational energy company Eni SpA have announced Canada’s Kinectrics as the design and fabrication partner for the UKAEA-Eni H3AT Tritium Loop Facility, which is expected to be the world’s largest and most advanced tritium fuel cycle facility when it is fully commissioned in 2030.

The UKAEA-Eni H3AT Tritium Loop Facility, located at the Culham Campus in Oxfordshire, UK, is designed to serve as a world-class facility providing industry and academia with the opportunity to study how to process, store and recycle tritium.

The H3AT facilities will comprise: advanced tritium infrastructure, to feed, recover, store and recycle tritium; a flexible suite of enclosures designed to enable a wide variety of experimental work, including pure tritium science, process development, component testing and waste detritiation; computational simulations and model validation; training facilities; and materials detritiation processes and facilities.

H3AT will include a prototype-scale process plant and experimental platform, which is a scaled version of the design for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.

As design and fabrication partner, Kinectrics will support UKAEA and Eni to develop and integrate critical tritium-handling technologies, including: the Atmospheric Detritiation System, which will recover tritium from gas waste streams to minimize release to atmosphere; the Water Detritiation System, which will recover tritium from tritiated water; and gloveboxes containing developmental equipment.

Fusion Energy Strategy

The announcements follow the publication of the government’s Fusion Energy Strategy from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, setting the direction for the UK’s long-term approach to developing and delivering fusion energy. The strategy outlines the government’s plan to accelerate fusion research, technology development, and commercialization. It says it will achieve this by strengthening supply chains, building the skills needed for the fusion industry, and supporting investment.

The strategy notes that the government is making a record investment in fusion energy of over GBP2.5 billion over five years (financial years 2025/26 to 2029/30).

Current planned allocations are: GBP1.3 billion delivered through UK Fusion Energy, for the next phase of delivering STEP in partnership with industry;

GBP740 million invested into cutting-edge R&D infrastructure and facilities in both magnetic and inertial confinement fusion;

GBP180 million on building LIBRTI, a globally unique facility to develop fusion fuel technology for power plants;

GBP125 million on developing the AI Growth Zone at Culham, including GBP45 million on the new Sunrise fusion-dedicated supercomputer;

GBP110 million on wider industry support, innovation, and commercialization, supporting UK companies to develop new technologies;  GBP80 million on international collaborations; and

GBP50 million on developing fusion skills training over 2,000 people in fusion related disciplines.

According to a UK AEA spokesperson, “By fostering innovation, addressing market barriers across R&D, investment into the fusion supply chain, and policy frameworks, the UK aims to strengthen and grow the fusion industry,” the strategy says. “STEP remains our primary lever to overcome these barriers. From demonstrating technical and commercial viability, to creating thousands of jobs and a skills base, to providing the UK with world leading systems integration capability, STEP will continue to play a crucial role in achieving the UK’s fusion objective.”

Fusion Related Super Computer Coming Online

As announced in the Fusion Energy Strategy, Sunrise – a 1.4 MW mission-focused supercomputer at UKAEA’s Culham Campus – is targeted for operation in June this year and is set to be the world’s most powerful AI supercomputer dedicated to fusion energy. Sunrise will tackle key fusion energy challenges in areas such as plasma turbulence, materials development and tritium fuel breeding, while delivering spillover benefits to other clean energy technologies and the UK’s broader net-zero ambitions. It will deliver up to 6.76 Exaflops of AI-accelerated modelling, enabling high-fidelity simulations and the creation of digital twins for complex systems.

Sunrise will also strengthen essential AI capabilities at Culham Campus and across the UK’s high-performance computing landscape, contributing to the government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan and AI for Science Strategy.

Sunrise will be used to address real-world challenges from a wide range of UK fusion program to drive critical advancements for the LIBRTI (Lithium Breeding Tritium Innovation) program, which is developing tritium fuel-cycle technologies for self-sufficiency in future fusion operations, and for STEP Fusion, the UK’s flagship initiative to demonstrate fusion energy in the 2040s.

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EU €330m Funding for Fusion Energy, Nuclear Medicine

(Wire services) The European Commission has adopted a 2026 – 2027 work program under the Euratom Research and Training Program that allocates €330 million in EU funding for fusion energy research and a range of nuclear technologies and skills. Most of the funding, €222 million, is earmarked for fusion. The work program includes plans to set up a new European public-private partnership for fusion energy to develop “commercially viable” technologies and build a European supply chain.

It also includes support for fusion-related projects under the European Innovation Council, a EU plan that backs high-risk innovation, with the aim of helping fusion start-ups develop their technology and attract private investment.

The remaining €108 million is allocated to nuclear fission research, including work on radioactive waste management, radiation protection, and new nuclear materials, the Commission said.

Research will also cover the safety of long-term operation of existing nuclear power plants, as well as small modular reactors — smaller-scale nuclear reactors — advanced reactors, and nuclear fuels. The program will fund research in nuclear medicine to improve the EU’s ability to supply medical isotopes used in new therapies.

It also includes measures to develop and attract nuclear expertise, including through Marie Sklodowska-Curie grants, and will provide open access to more than 230 nuclear research facilities across the EU.

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Realta Fusion and Kyoto Fusioneering Forge Strategic Partnership

Bilateral agreement will strengthen fusion industry ties between the U.S. and Japan and support joint development of plasma heating system design for magnetic mirror fusion machines, mirror-based neutron sources, and blanket and fuel cycle technology

Realta Fusion and Kyoto Fusioneering (KF) announced a bilateral strategic partnership designed to accelerate the global commercialization of fusion energy. Building upon decades of successful nation-to-nation collaboration in the public sector, this agreement capitalizes on the deep synergies between the advanced fusion ecosystems of the United States and Japan to drive unprecedented industrial momentum.

The agreement outlines several areas of joint technological development that builds on the strengths of both companies. KF will bring its expertise to the design, engineering, and fabrication of plasma heating systems optimized for use in Realta’s magnetic mirror fusion machines.

Realta and KF will also explore the design and deployment of mirror-based neutron sources that can be used to qualify materials and decisively de-risk the development of tritium blanket breeding and fuel cycle systems.

In the first phase of this partnership, Realta has purchased gyrotrons – the high-powered microwaves that help heat fusion plasmas to many times the temperature of the sun – from KF. These gyrotrons will be installed on Realta’s first commercial-grade fusion machine, which will be located in their planned research and development facility known as The Realta Forge.

The collaboration between Realta and KF extends beyond fusion hardware development. The companies will pursue joint engagement of their respective government stakeholders, industry associations, and standards bodies, while coordinating supply chain partnerships for components, materials, and subsystems.

“This alliance represents a powerful convergence of American ingenuity in plasma physics and Japanese excellence in precision manufacturing and integrated fusion systems,” said Kiyoshi Seko, KF’s President and COO. “By linking our respective industrial bases, we are not just advancing magnetic mirror technology; we are forging the resilient, cross-border supply chains required to make commercial fusion a reality.”

About Realta Fusion 

Realta Fusion spun out of a large fusion experiment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy. The experiment was the first to use high temperature superconducting magnets in a magnetic mirror configuration and confined its first plasma at a world-record breaking magnetic field strength of 17 Tesla. Realta Fusion recently announced a $36 million Series A funding round led by new investor Future Ventures, with further support from existing investor Khosla Ventures, who led Realta Fusion’s seed round in 2023.

About Kyoto Fusioneering

Kyoto Fusioneering (KF) is a fusion technology and integrated systems provider, supporting many of the world’s most advanced private and public fusion programs. As the largest fusion company to emerge from Japan, having raised over $120 million life-to-date, KF delivers critical-path technologies—including plasma heating, thermal management, and fuel cycle systems—essential for commercial fusion power.

KF also serves as the chair of the Japan Fusion Energy Council (J-Fusion), an organization bringing together over 100 private enterprises throughout Japan to align and accelerate the path to commercial fusion power. Headquartered in Tokyo, KF operates globally with subsidiaries in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, and a joint venture in Canada.

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Helical Fusion Announces Construction Start in Japan

Advances one of Japan’s leading public-private partnership initiatives for fusion commercialization with NIFS and industrial partners

Helical Fusion announced the construction site for Phase 1 of Helix HARUKA, its Integrated Demonstration Device.

Phase 1—the magnet demonstration phase—will be built in a dedicated workspace for the joint research group formed by Helical Fusion and the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS), located on the NIFS campus. Helical Fusion has already begun manufacturing phase and site build-out, with the aim of conducting coil current (energization) tests in 2027.

Cut Away of Helica Fusion Machine: Image: Helical

This milestone represents more than a site announcement. It marks Helical Fusion’s transition into a new execution phase centered on the manufacturing, assembly, and system-level validation of fusion-device hardware. In other words, the program is progressing beyond laboratory research and standalone component development toward the physical realization of an integrated fusion machine.

It also highlights Helical Fusion’s role in leading a “Japan-style public–private partnership (PPP)” for fusion commercialization. By bringing together NIFS’s world-class research foundation and infrastructure with Helical Fusion’s private-sector system integration and the manufacturing capabilities of industrial partners, the company is building a tightly coupled build-and-test loop aimed at accelerating commercialization.

Overview of Demonstration Phases within the Helix Program

1) Helix HARUKA — Phase 1 (Magnet Demonstration) Purpose: Current-testing of a non-planar helical HTS magnet system.

2) Helix HARUKA — Phase 2 (Integrated Demonstration) Integrated demonstration of key enabling technologies—including the HTS magnet  and the blanket/divertor—together with a key milestone of the program: demonstrating sustained high-temperature plasma operation for durations sufficient to underpin an engineering outlook toward steady-state power-plant operation. This is intended to establish technical confidence for the first power-generating unit, Helix KANATA.

3) Helix KANATA (First Power-Generating Unit): Achieve “practical power generation,” including net-electric operation, steady-state operation, and maintainability demonstrations.

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DOE Offers $230M for National Science Challenges

DOE Announces $293 Million in Funding to Support Genesis Mission National Science and Technology Challenges

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced funding to advance the Genesis Mission’s efforts to tackle the nation’s most complex science and technology challenges. This includes a $293 million Request for Application (RFA),“The Genesis Mission: Transforming Science and Energy with AI.”

Through this RFA, DOE invites interdisciplinary teams to leverage novel AI models and frameworks to address over 20 national challenges spanning advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, critical materials, nuclear energy, and quantum information science.  

“The Genesis Mission has caught the imagination of our scientific and engineering communities to tackle national challenges in the age of AI,” said Under Secretary for Science Darío Gil and Genesis Mission Director.

“With these investments we seek breakthrough ideas and novel collaborations leveraging the scientific prowess of our National Laboratories, the private sector, universities, and science philanthropies.”

The RFA is open to interdisciplinary teams from DOE National Laboratories, U.S. industry, and academia. Phase I awards will range from $500,000 to $750,000 and will support a nine month project period.

Phase II awards will range from $6 million to $15 million over a three year project period. Teams may apply directly to either phase in FY 2026, and successful Phase I teams will be eligible to compete for larger Phase II awards in future cycles.

Phase I applications and Phase II letters of intent are due April 28, 2026. Phase II applications are due May 19, 2026. DOE plans to hold an informational webinar about this RFA on March 26, 2026.

The Scope of Work is defined in this document 

The Genesis Mission: Transforming Science and Energy with AI
Notice of Request for Application (RFA) Number: DE-FOA-0003612

See also DOE Website
Genesis Mission National Science and Technology Challenges