Fiscal Year 2020 Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research | DE FOA 0002128

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002128

The Fiscal Year 2020 Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research funding opportunity (DE-FOA-0002128) is a Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) solicitation designed to fund competitive research, development, and supporting infrastructure that strengthens U.S. nuclear power. The core requirement is that every proposed project must clearly connect to at least one of NE's three mission priorities: improving the long-term viability and competitiveness of the current U.S. reactor fleet, building an "advanced reactor pipeline" that moves new reactor concepts toward demonstration and deployment, and sustaining the national fuel cycle and supply chain infrastructure needed to support nuclear energy over the long term. In practice, proposals are expected to show how the work addresses a real need in the nuclear energy ecosystem, whether that is extending plant life, lowering operating costs, enabling new reactor technologies, or advancing fuels, materials, and related infrastructure.

The opportunity emphasizes crosscutting nuclear energy R&D, meaning work that can benefit multiple reactor types or multiple parts of the nuclear technology stack rather than only one narrow application. DOE points applicants toward technical areas that align with needs identified through the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN), a DOE effort that engages advanced reactor developers and helps translate their technical gaps into actionable R&D scopes that DOE programs can support. While the FOA points to specific work scopes listed in the appendices (Part IX, Appendices A-C), the intent is broader: DOE is looking for innovative work that can materially improve performance, safety, economics, or deployability of nuclear technologies, and that makes good use of DOE resources by generating results with wide impact.

A notable focus is support for advanced reactor development, particularly proposals that can generate data, methods, or capabilities relevant to private-sector developers of fast-spectrum reactors (including lead-cooled, sodium-cooled, and gas-cooled concepts), molten salt reactors (MSRs), and high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs). The FOA highlights the value of flexibility in experiments and research approaches, especially when projects can accommodate different materials, operating conditions, and measurement needs that multiple developers might share. This is a strong signal that DOE is not only interested in academic novelty, but also in practical deliverables that reduce uncertainty for designers, improve licensing readiness, or close known technology gaps for non-light-water reactor concepts.

This solicitation covers the competitive portion of NE's R&D portfolio and is implemented through three major program channels. First is the Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP), which supports university-led R&D and university infrastructure in areas closely tied to NE programs, including Fuel Cycle R&D, Reactor Concepts R&D and Demonstration, and Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS). Second is Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies (NEET) Crosscutting Technology Development (CTD), which supports crosscutting research that can be led by national laboratories or universities and is meant to advance enabling technologies that multiple reactor and fuel-cycle pathways can use. Third is the Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) program, which provides researchers from universities, industry, and national labs with access to high-end nuclear R&D infrastructure, such as material test reactors, beam lines, and post-irradiation examination capabilities, often structured as no-cost access to world-class facilities to accelerate research that would otherwise be difficult or prohibitively expensive to perform.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary funding opportunity using cooperative agreements, which generally means DOE expects more substantial involvement than in a simple grant, such as collaboration on project direction, milestones, or use of DOE facilities and expertise. The issuing agency is DOE (Idaho Field Office). Eligible applicants include public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, for-profit organizations (including those other than small businesses), small businesses, and additional eligible entity types as clarified in the FOA. The opportunity was created on August 20, 2019, with an original application deadline of February 12, 2020. The award ceiling is listed as $1,000,000, and DOE anticipated making about 58 awards, indicating an intent to fund a relatively broad portfolio of projects rather than a small number of large awards.

Finally, DOE notes that even though the FOA lays out current and upcoming priorities, NE reserves the right to adjust to shifting priorities during FY 2020 due to events, policy changes, or Congressional and budget direction. DOE also reserves the right to fund only part of a proposed application. Taken together, the FOA is best read as a portfolio-building effort: DOE is seeking a range of university, national lab, and industry collaborations that produce usable data, validated tools, improved materials and fuels understanding, and access to specialized facilities, all aligned to keeping the existing fleet competitive while accelerating credible advanced reactor and fuel-cycle pathways.

• The Department of Energy, Idaho Field Office in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Fiscal Year 2020 Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.121.
• This funding opportunity was created on Aug 20, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 12, 2020. (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 $1,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 58 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for DE FOA 0002128

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