Fiscal Year 2026 Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research

Provides funds to businesses through the four Ben Franklin Technology Partners for access to capital, business expertise, technology commercialization services to advance the development of new technologies and for the generation, conservation, and transportation of alternative and clean energy.

The Combustion and Fire Systems program is part of the Transport Phenomena cluster, which also includes 1) th eFluid Dynamics program; 2) the Particulate and Multiphase Processes program; and 3) the Thermal Transport Processes program. The goal of the Combustion and Fire Systems program is to create new knowledge to support advances in clean energy, climate change mitigation, a cleaner environment and public safety. The program endeavors to create fundamental scientific knowledge that is needed for safe, clean and useful combustion applications and for mitigating the effects of fire. The program aims to identify and understand the controlling basic principles and to use that knowledge to create predictive capabilities for designing and optimizing practical combustion devices and understanding fire. Important outcomesfor this program include: -broad-based tools — experimental, theoretical, and computational — that can be applied to a variety of problems in combustion technologies and fire; -science and technology for clean and efficient generation of power; -discoveries that enable clean environments (for example, by reduction in combustion-generated pollutants); and -enhanced public safety and climate change mitigation through research on wildland and building fire growth, inhibition, and suppression.

The Office of Nuclear Energy’s (NE) mission is to advance nuclear energy science and technology to meet U.S. energy, environmental, and economic needs. NE has identified the following goals to address challenges in the nuclear energy sector, help realize the potential of advanced technology, and leverage the unique role of the government in spurring innovation: - Keep existing U.S. nuclear reactors operating; - Deploy new nuclear reactors; - Secure and sustain our nuclear fuel cycle - Expand international nuclear energy cooperation. NE conducts crosscutting nuclear energy research and development (R&D) and associated infrastructure support activities to develop innovative technologies that offer the promise of dramatically improved performance for its mission needs as stated above, while maximizing the impact of NE resources. NE strives to promote integrated and collaborative research conducted by national laboratory, university, industry, and international partners under the direction of NE’s programs; deploy innovative nuclear energy technologies to the market; and optimize the benefits of nuclear energy.

Purpose: To provide cost share funding to applicants that apply for and receive one of the following: An award under an eligible federal Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) and meet the requirements of this solicitation, or Follow-on funding from the U.S. DOE to continue research from PON-14-308, GFO-18-902, or this GFO and the proposed project meets the requirements of this solicitation. Description: The purpose of this solicitation is to provide cost share funding to applicants that apply for and receive one of the following: An award under an eligible federal Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) and meet the requirements of this solicitation, or Follow-on funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to continue research from a previously awarded federal grant that also received Energy Commission federal cost share funding under PON-14-308, GFO-18-902, or this GFO and the proposed project meets the requirements of this solicitation.

Catalyst provides up to seven grants of up to $75,000 to researchers and early-stage companies looking to demonstrate initial prototypes of their clean energy technologies. Diversity in Cleantech Early Stage (DICES), in parallel with Catalyst, awards three additional grants of up to $75,000 each for projects led by eligible (certified or certifiable) women-owned or minority-owned early-stage companies. The program is designed to demonstrate the feasibility of transforming new ideas from the research stage into commercially viable technologies that attract industry and investor interest. All awardees gain access to a vast network of partners, expert local market and policy insights, and mentoring from MassCEC and MassVentures, while all finalists receive complimentary pitch coaching and business mentoring.