No official summary available for this bill.
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3437 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 3437
To amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to reestablish an
office relating to fusion.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 11, 2025
Mr. Padilla (for himself and Mr. Cornyn) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to reestablish an
office relating to fusion.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Office of Fusion Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. REESTABLISHMENT OF DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY OFFICE RELATING TO
FUSION.
(a) Office of Fusion.--Title II of the Department of Energy
Organization Act is amended by inserting after section 215 (42 U.S.C.
7144b) the following:
``SEC. 216. OFFICE OF FUSION.
``(a) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish the Office of
Fusion (referred to in this section as the `Office') within the
Department to advance near-term and long-term fusion energy science and
technology to meet the energy, environmental, and economic needs of the
United States.
``(b) Purposes.--The purposes of the Office shall be--
``(1) to enhance the economic and energy security of the
United States;
``(2) to maintain United States leadership in fusion energy
technologies;
``(3) to advance fusion energy, in partnership with the
private sector, to accelerate research, development,
demonstration, deployment, and market adoption of fusion
technologies;
``(4) to manage, through the Fusion Innovation Center
established under subsection (g), public-private partnerships
with the United States fusion industry to accelerate successful
deployment of first commercial fusion power plants, with a goal
to start construction of more than 1 private-sector fusion
power plant not later than December 31, 2028;
``(5) to ensure an adequate national fusion supply chain
infrastructure, including manufacturing capabilities;
``(6) to serve in a coordination role to align the
capabilities of the Office of Science for basic research, the
Advanced Research Projects Agency--Energy for early technology
development, and the National Nuclear Security Administration
for inertial confinement fusion-relevant technologies to serve
a single goal of accelerating commercial plant deployment while
meeting high standards for safety;
``(7) to expand international fusion energy cooperation to
support commercialization of fusion energy;
``(8) to ensure the availability of a well-trained
workforce to support the fusion industry;
``(9) to provide technical expertise to regulators of
fusion machines at the Federal, State, and international
levels; and
``(10) to partner with other agencies to support programs
and initiatives to facilitate international market
opportunities for the United States commercial fusion industry.
``(c) Director.--The head of the Office shall be a Director
selected by the Secretary.
``(d) Consolidation of Fusion Offices.--The Secretary shall--
``(1) conduct outreach to obtain stakeholder feedback from
the private and public sectors relating to identifying the
relevant commercially oriented Department programs involved in
fusion, including programs under the Office of Science, that
should be transferred to the Office, including any milestone-
based private sector funding programs and the Innovation
Network for Fusion Energy public-private partnership program;
and
``(2) develop a timeline for transferring the programs
identified under paragraph (1).
``(e) Consultation.--In carrying out the duties of the Office, the
Director shall consult with the private sector, National Laboratories,
institutions of higher education, and the public as to how to optimize
the organization of the various programs within the Department.
``(f) Fusion Demonstration Program Vision.--
``(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date
of enactment of the Office of Fusion Act of 2025, the Secretary
and the Director shall submit to Congress a commercial
deployment roadmap that--
``(A) identifies key barriers; and
``(B) describes specific activities to overcome
those barriers and meet key deployment milestones,
including activities such as early-stage technology
development, regulatory streamlining, demonstration
projects, and supply chain manufacturing.
``(2) Periodic report.--The Secretary and the Director
shall submit to Congress an updated roadmap under paragraph
(1)--
``(A) every 4 years; or
``(B) appended to another periodic energy report,
as determined by the Secretary and the Director.
``(g) Fusion Innovation Center.--
``(1) In general.--The Director shall establish within the
Office a center, to be known as the `Fusion Innovation Center',
to lead public-private partnerships that facilitate commercial
deployment of fusion.
``(2) National laboratory.--The Fusion Innovation Center
established under paragraph (1) shall be based at a National
Laboratory (as defined in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of
2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801)), or a university in the United States,
with a dedicated and established fusion energy program that--
``(A) has demonstrated fusion technology advances;
``(B) has received funding from the Fusion Energy
Sciences program of the Office of Science; and
``(C) has a facility capable of creating burning
plasma and fusion relevant conditions.
``(h) Coordination and Nonduplication.--
``(1) In general.--To the maximum extent practicable, the
Director shall ensure that the activities of the Office are
coordinated with, and do not duplicate the efforts of, other
programs and laboratories within the Department and other
relevant research agencies.
``(2) Technology transfer coordination.--To the extent
appropriate, the Director may coordinate with the Chief
Commercialization Officer appointed under section 1001(a)(4) of
the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16391(a)(4)).''.
(b) Fusion Energy Under Assistant Secretary.--Section 203(a)(2) of
the Department of Energy Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 7133(a)(2)) is
amended--
(1) by redesignating subparagraphs (C), (D), and (E) as
subparagraphs (D), (E), and (F), respectively; and
(2) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following:
``(C) fusion energy resources;''.
(c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents for the Department
of Energy Organization Act (Public Law 95-91; 91 Stat. 565; 119 Stat.
764; 133 Stat. 2199) is amended by inserting after the item relating to
section 215 the following:
``Sec. 216. Office of Fusion.''.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S8672)
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line