Grants / Department of Energy / Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy

DE-FOA-0003011: Request for Information (RFI): Nuclear Hybrid and Non-Electricity Energy Systems

Closed Closed March 30, 2023 Opportunity DE-FOA-0003011 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. A newer notice from the same program is open now: Unlocking New Levels of Output and Capacity for Key Subsurface Resources (UNLOCK) (DE-FOA-0003630). Status: Closes November 20, 2026 (13 days left). It is in our archive of Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy notices from 2023.

• Award amountsNot given on Grants.gov
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeCooperative Agreement

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to any type of organization.

• Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility"

This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. This RFI is not seeking applications for financial assistance. THIS NOTICE DOES NOT CONSTITTUE A FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA). NO FOA EXISTS AT THIS TIME.

More grants for nonprofits, colleges and universities, state and local governments, tribes, small businesses, businesses, individuals.

Is this a realistic fit?

• Most of the program's money (43% over five years) went to colleges and universities.
• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

Request for Information (RFI): Nuclear Hybrid and Non-Electricity Energy Systems The purpose of this RFI is to solicit input for a potential future ARPA-E research program focused on the integration of nuclear reactor facilities into industrial processes to enable their provision of carbon-free heat and/or power. ARPA-E is seeking information regarding transformative and implementable technologies to facilitate this integration. Traditionally, nuclear energy produces electricity via the conversion of fission reactions to heat, to mechanical energy, and finally to electricity. As a fundamentally clean, zero-carbon source of heat, nuclear energy offers a path to decarbonization in hard-to-abate industries where heat, especially high-quality heat, is a major energy input. Historically, there have been applications of nuclear heat outside of electricity generation, such as desalination and district heating, but with the imminent deployment of advanced reactors (ARs), the opportunity to widen the application scope is expanding. ARs are distributed bi-axially in terms of thermal and electric output and temperature. Capacity ranges from a single megawatt (MW) for microreactors, to a few tens or low hundreds of MWs for small modular reactors (SMRs), and even up to gigawatt scale. Operating temperatures range from 300 up to 900°C. The recent focus on decarbonization and sustainability has created new opportunities for novel combinations of existing, or emerging, technologies in new sector applications. Industrial processes, which generate 24% of our nation’s greenhouse gas emissions , remain difficult to decarbonize due to their large heat requirements. The potential to integrate advanced nuclear reactors with industrial processes offers a potential pathway to reduce or eliminate carbon emissions from this sector.

Category: Opportunity Zone Benefits, Science and Technology and other Research and Development.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Apply under the newer notice, DE-FOA-0003630, which is open now.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.