Plasma Science Facilities | DE FOA 0001713

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0001713

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, through its Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) program, issued the Plasma Science Facilities funding opportunity (DE-FOA-0001713) to support intermediate-scale plasma science facilities that function as user-oriented research platforms. The core idea is to fund facilities that are big enough to tackle major frontier plasma physics problems that cannot realistically be addressed with small, single-investigator, tabletop experiments, but that are still smaller and more focused than the largest national laboratory installations. The mechanism is a cooperative agreement, which generally signals that DOE expects to have substantial involvement in overseeing or coordinating aspects of the project during execution, particularly for facility construction, operations, and user access.

The scientific emphasis is explicitly on frontier plasma science questions highlighted in the 2015 Frontiers of Plasma Science Workshops report, with the program seeking facilities capable of addressing multiple topical areas rather than a single narrowly defined experiment. The specific research themes called out include plasma dynamo processes (how magnetic fields are generated and amplified in plasmas), magnetic reconnection (how magnetic field lines change topology and rapidly release stored magnetic energy), particle acceleration driven by shocks, turbulence, and/or reconnection (processes relevant to both laboratory and astrophysical plasmas), the turbulent cascade and dissipation of energy in magnetized plasmas (how energy moves from large scales to small scales and ultimately heats particles), and the formation of coherent structures in magnetized plasmas (long-lived or organized features that emerge from complex plasma dynamics). In practice, DOE is signaling interest in facilities that can provide controlled, repeatable experimental access to these fundamental processes, often with advanced diagnostics, parameter flexibility, and the ability to support a broader community of users.

A major motivation behind the opportunity is the long-standing national need for mid-scale infrastructure that sits between individual-lab experiments and the very large fusion or high-energy-density platforms. The FOA ties this need to recommendations from the 2007 National Research Council report, Plasma Science: Advancing Knowledge in the National Interest (Plasma 2010 Committee), and reinforces the 2015 workshop findings that certain high-impact plasma questions require intermediate-scale capabilities. The envisioned facilities are the kind that are typically too complex, expensive, or operationally intensive for a single principal investigator to build and run alone, but that can serve as a shared community resource where multiple teams can propose experiments, access the platform, and generate broadly useful data and validation for theory and simulation.

Eligibility is listed as unrestricted (open to any entity type), subject to any additional eligibility clarifications in the full announcement. The FOA is categorized as discretionary funding for science and technology and other research and development, under CFDA 81.049. DOE anticipated making around four awards, with an award ceiling of $4,800,000. The opportunity was originally posted January 19, 2017, with an original closing date of May 5, 2017, which indicates this is a historical solicitation, but it still provides a clear picture of DOE FES priorities for intermediate-scale, community-facing plasma science infrastructure.

Just as important as what is included is what is excluded. DOE explicitly states that mainstream magnetic fusion energy research facilities are not responsive to this call, naming advanced tokamaks, spherical tori, and stellarators as examples. It also excludes inertial confinement fusion facilities such as convergent laser-driven systems and z-pinches. That exclusion clarifies that the program is not trying to fund facilities aimed primarily at achieving fusion energy performance milestones; instead, it is targeting fundamental plasma science and cross-cutting plasma phenomena that matter across space and astrophysical plasmas, laboratory plasmas, and plasma applications, while remaining distinct from the major fusion confinement pathways and inertial fusion platforms.

Overall, this grant opportunity is best understood as DOE FES investing in mid-scale experimental infrastructure that enables community access and sustained operations, with the goal of producing high-quality, frontier-level plasma physics results in areas like reconnection, turbulence, dynamos, particle acceleration, and coherent structure formation. The emphasis on “user facilities” and “multiple research areas” points toward proposals that combine strong scientific vision with practical facility planning: robust operations, diagnostics, safety and reliability, and a credible user program that can serve a broader research community rather than only the proposing team.

• The Department of Energy - Office of Science in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Plasma Science Facilities" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.049.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jan 19, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 05, 2017. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $4,800,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 4 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for DE FOA 0001713

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