Finnish VTT collab with US for commercial fusion energy

Related to the collaboration, VTT and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California, US, have signed a memorandum of understanding for science and technology cooperation. Through these joint projects, VTT's expertise will play a central role in global technology development.

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has joined an ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy) program funded by the US Department of Energy, aiming to accelerate the commercial use of fusion energy. The collaboration aims to solve the challenges of materials needed in extreme conditions, which are a bottleneck in the commercialisation of fusion energy.

"Fusion energy is considered the 'holy grail' of clean energy, but issues with material durability have slowed breakthroughs for decades," says Anssi Laukkanen, Research Professor at VTT.

What makes this collaboration particularly exceptional is that the US Department of Energy is directly funding the participation of a European research institution. ARPA-E is known for its top-tier research projects that focus on solving the biggest challenges in the energy sector. This is the first time the US Department of Energy has brought in a foreign partner to this project.

VTT brings its expertise in computational materials engineering and AI-based simulation methods to the initiative. These methods allow for testing the durability of materials in extreme conditions by simulating hundreds of millions of computational experiments.

"The traditional process of developing new materials can take decades. VTT's simulation and AI technologies shorten the development cycles to months, allowing us to quickly discover, optimise and create case-specific materials tailored to a specific need," Laukkanen explains.

The project focuses on developing materials for the first wall of fusion reactors, which must withstand extreme temperatures and radiation for several years. The lack of materials that meet these requirements has been a significant barrier to the commercial implementation of fusion reactors.

"Fusion energy has long been a vision that has always been said to be 50 years away. Now research is advancing to the point where the first commercial players expect applications in just 5–10 years from now. If successful, fusion energy could revolutionise energy production and help solve global climate challenges," Laukkanen says.

VTT and LLNL collaborate to solve critical energy and sustainability issues

The collaboration between VTT and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) aims to develop revolutionary solutions for both the energy market and sustainable development.

The collaboration covers five key research areas: biotechnology, critical materials and green technologies, quantum computing, energy materials and structural alloys and materials for fusion energy. The agreement is the result of VTT's particularly strong expertise in developing materials and computational models for extreme conditions.

In material development, VTT uses unique AI-assisted VTT ProperTune computing and simulation technology, which has enabled the development of better material solutions, for example for fusion energy. VTT has also heavily invested in the development of quantum algorithms and software. These factors made VTT an attractive partner.

"The new agreement allows us to deepen our long-standing collaboration and advance research more systematically. Collaboration with a top-tier research institution like LLNL offers a unique opportunity to tackle the critical problems of our time," says VTT CEO Antti Vasara.

VTT's involvement in internationally significant research projects raises the profile of European technology in the United States and lays the foundation for new business opportunities in Europe as well.

"For us, this is not just about research, but also about bringing Finnish innovations to international markets. Now, we have an opportunity to be involved in developing new technologies with enormous market potential. The success of even one area could have significant impacts on economic growth," says Tua Huomo, Executive Vice President of VTT's sustainable products and materials business area.