REQUEST FOR INFORMATION - Pulsed Power Public/Private Partnership

PULSED POWER PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP Request for Information National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia (NTESS) LLC, located on Kirtland Airforce Base (KAFB), Albuquerque, New Mexico, responsible for Management and Operations of Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), is soliciting level of interest and information on behalf of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) for ways to best structure a public-private partnership (PPP) program that advances needed pulsed power capabilities. More specifically, in this Request for Information (RFI), DOE/NNSA is interested in information that would enable partnering with private industry to 1) advance pulsed power technologies that would enable a more cost-effective and more reliable large scale pulsed power machine, and 2) develop privately-owned pulsed power capabilities that advance private interests (e.g. economical fusion energy) while at the same time are of contractual interest to NNSA in performing its mission. The

information supplied in the responses by this RFI will inform DOE/NNSA on how to strategize and formalize investment plans. As part of this process, it is anticipated, but not guaranteed, that this RFI will be followed by requests for proposals (RFP) to execute a mutually beneficial milestone-based program that could advance a future pulsed power facility more quickly and at lower cost, while at the same time serving to advance commercial industry capabilities in the United States. We note that supporting commercial fusion energy companies in particular may be synergistic with broader Department of Energy goals. NTESS and DOE/NNSA will share and discuss responses of this RFI with its national labs, including Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Any response that includes information requiring a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) before dissemination with other parties must include a written notice of such restriction and agreement to negotiate any required NDA in good faith and as quickly as possible. This document is not a Request for Proposal (RFP) nor part of an RFP at this time. This RFI does not commit NTESS or DOE/NNSA to subcontract for any supply or service. NTESS will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party’s expense. BACKGROUND Pulsed power technology has proven to be an effective and economical way to compress energy in both space and time to produce short, high power electrical pulses that are useful for a wide range of applications. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has employed pulsed power technology for decades to support weapon effects simulations, thermonuclear fusion, and other science supporting stockpile stewardship. The unique high energy density conditions and/or radiation outputs that can be created in the laboratory using pulsed power provide important data in support of annual nuclear stockpile assessments and the qualification/certification of nuclear weapon modernization programs. The United States has pursued a laboratory inertial confinement fusion effort for many decades, with the long-term goal of producing hundreds of megajoules per experiment to enable a full range of stockpile stewardship capabilities outside of nuclear-explosive testing. Pulsed power and associated magnetic direct-drive (MDD) fusion techniques are an attractive avenue to achieve high-yield fusion (>200MJ in a single event), and the Z facility at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) is engaged in research pursuing fusion ignition. However, more power and energy on target is needed than is presently available at the Z facility. Additionally, Z is an aging ~40-year-old facility in need of eventual replacement. Thus, DOE/NNSA is exploring options for a more capable pulsed-power machine to replace it. Desired NNSA goals for a future pulsed power capability 1. Pulsed power machine sized to achieve thermonuclear ignition and contribute to the weapons physics studies critical to the stockpile stewardship mission. Ideally, it would also enable the study of high yield fusion targets at full-scale and, ultimately, assess the feasibility of achieving high yield fusion with Magnetic Direct Drive (MDD) pulsed power approaches. a. NTESS estimates a machine that is capable of delivering 500-800 TW of electrical power to vacuum insulator stack in less than 120 ns would meet this goal. Sandia’s Z machine is 85 TW (120ns). 10.1103/physrevstab.18.110401 b. Flexible platform with the ability to extend and shape electrical pulses up to 2 microseconds. (This would be beneficial for high-pressure material science experiments.) 2. Limit human exposure to health and safety hazards beyond what Z does today. 3. Eliminate or minimize the use of high global warming potential gases and improve environmental stewardship beyond what is possible at Z today. 4. Cost effective (both capital and operational). a. Machine that provides equal to or better system reliability, availability, maintainability, inspectability (RAMI) as Sandia’s Z machine. b. Ability to conduct a similar number or more experiments per year as Sandia’s Z machine, which conducts ~150 experiments per year with a single shift. c. Machine lifetime of 50 years or more. SNL believes Z technology (conventional Marx and water transmission) can be scaled up directly to support a larger machine, but this may not be the optimal path. Several technological improvements have been identified for conventional Marx based pulsed power technology that are expected to significantly reduce the size and cost of a future pulsed power facility. Newer, more efficient and compact pulsed power technologies, such as Linear Transformer Drivers (LTD), Fast Marx Arrays (FMA), and Impedance Matched Generators (IMG) are also attractive options to consider, but still need significant technical maturation to reduce technical risk for such a large project. Pulsed power technology has become increasingly prominent within private industry in recent years. We note that the private fusion industry has now raised over six billion dollars in private investment and several companies utilize some form of pulsed power to drive their fusion target concepts. Some private fusion startups have proposed to build large scale pulsed power machines as demonstrators and/or pilot plants using technology that is relevant to NNSA’s mission. We also note that many companies continue to supply pulsed power technology to Department of Defense (DOD) to serve as weapon effects simulators or as part of weapon systems (e.g., aircraft launch systems, rail guns). It appears likely that there may be unique opportunities for NNSA to partner with private industry to mutual benefit. WHO MAY RESPOND? There are no restrictions on responders. Responders may include, but are not limited to, U.S. or foreign privately or publicly held companies, individuals, groups or consortiums, and academic institutions. Companies that could respond as prime contractors, subcontractors, or providers of technologies are especially encouraged to respond to this RFI. REQUESTED INFORMATION 1. ALIGNMENT OF INTERESTS 1.1. DOE/NNSA is considering a cost shared, milestone-based public-private partnership (PPP) opportunity for advancement of pulsed power technology. Describe your company’s interest in participating in a PPP program for developing a large-scale pulsed power capability that is consistent with NNSA’s desired mission goals as listed above. 1.2. Describe your company’s interest in the potential to lease/sell specific pulsed power capabilities of interest to NNSA. 1.3. How might the desired NNSA capability needs stated above align with your company’s technical development plans? Are there specific NNSA capability goals, as stated above, that are seen as particularly difficult to meet or alternative goals or capabilities that you might recommend? How might your business plans change if a milestone program or other funding opportunities with DOE/NNSA existed? 1.4. What unique capabilities or technologies might your company be able to provide that NNSA may not be presently considering in its planning? 1.5. Would access to national labs and government-development pulsed power technology and expertise be important to you in a milestone based PPP program? If so, please describe. How could the national labs best partner with you in a PPP program? 1.6. Academic institutions: please describe your interest in advancing pulsed power technology for fusion, other commercial interests, and/or defense applications. Are you currently partnering with private industry to develop pulsed power technology and/or capabilities? What is your level of interest in expanding partnerships with private industry to develop new pulsed power capabilities of interest to industry and the NNSA? 2. MILESTONE PROGRAM 2.1. What are some specific examples of milestones your company might propose to build confidence, demonstrate necessary technology, and provide assurances the proposed plan can ultimately deliver a large-scale pulsed power capability of interest to NNSA? What would your company estimate to be the costs of meeting proposed milestones? How might progressive milestone steps or intermediate scale technology demonstrators be commercialized or leveraged in the academic community? 2.2. Describe how your interests, commercialization or otherwise, would change if a PPP was structured as a cost-shared research agreement only with no guarantee of a follow-on capability development program and/or defined opportunity to lease/sell specific pulsed power capability back to NNSA. 2.3. Academic institutions: please describe how a DOE/NNSA milestone-based program could be structured to best facilitate university engagement, leverage the strength of university programs and develop needed workforce pipelines. What role could ZNetUS https://znetus.eng.ucsd.edu/ play? 3. TECHNOLOGY APPROACH 3.1. What pulsed power system architecture approach (e.g., Marx, Fast Marx, LTD, IMG) would your company recommend for future pulsed power facilities, and why? 3.2. Sandia’s Z machine currently relies on significant manual labor for refurbishment and unloading/installation of target hardware. This operational model is likely not viable for larger facilities. Eliminating the need for direct human interaction through debris mitigation and automation solutions is desired and may significantly improve efficiency and reduce cost of ongoing operations. These desires are also synergistic with the requirement of rep-rating pulsed power for fusion energy. Are there specific approaches that might be mutually beneficial? What might specific milestones look like to address this issue? 3.3. Where would you propose geographically siting jointly-developed pulsed power capabilities and why? 4. TIME SCALE 4.1. Please describe any time scale constraints that your company has that would impact your ability or willingness to participate in a DOE/NNSA milestone-based program or other funding opportunity. 4.2. How might a formal DOE/NNSA announcement of a milestone-based program or other funding opportunity impact your current business plans? 5. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY 5.1. What concerns do you have about protecting your company’s intellectual property in DOE/NNSA milestone program or other funding opportunities? How could a program be structured to alleviate those concerns? 5.2. Would your company be willing to protect from unauthorized disclosure specific, but limited aspects of pulsed power technology the government may determine to be sensitive? 6. OTHER 6.1. This is a preliminary fact-finding event and NTESS understands the potential for questions and additional details. Would you be willing to participate in future follow up venues with NTESS and possibly other entities?