The University of California San Diego is part of a new research partnership led by San Diego-based General Atomics that was recently awarded funding by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The project, called the Target Injector Nexus for Experimental Development (TINEX), aims to overcome critical obstacles in developing and scaling up inertial fusion power plants.

It is one of six awards, collectively totalling $107 million, made by the DOE as part of the Fusion Innovative Research Engine (FIRE) Collaboratives.

“The TINEX project will be important for our collective efforts to make inertial fusion energy practical,” said mechanical engineering professor Javier E. Garay, director of the Fusion Engineering Institute at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.