The Department of Energy wants $10 million to fund the standalone Office of Fusion in fiscal 2027, according to DOE’s recent budget justification document.
DOE said the $10 million request will support the office by providing funding for personnel, travel, advisory and start up assistance.
The Office of Fusion will lead DOE in advancing “a set of national priorities that establishes a national strategy to build, innovate and grow a leading, competitive and robust American-driven fusion energy industry,” DOE said in the document. It would also seek “to close scientific and technological gaps on the critical path toward commercializing fusion energy.”
The office was set up as part of DOE’s reorganization in November 2025. Several companion bills have been introduced in the House and Senate to codify establishment of the fusion-focused office. That way it would stick around in future presidential administrations.
Fusion energy has seen a recent uptick in investment in the United States as the country races against China to achieve commercial fusion first. In 2022, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California became the first lab to achieve fusion ignition.
DOE released the Fusion Science and Technology Roadmap in October 2025, that aims to align public and private funding sources to bring fusion technology online by the 2030s.
Nuclear fission is a mature technology that has been in commercial operation for decades, while nuclear fusion is in the process of starting up. Fusion also only produces low-level radioactive waste compared to its fission counterpart. Waste management in the United States continues to be a concern of the nuclear industry, outlined by the government’s failure to bring a permanent repository to Yucca Mountain in Nevada, or anywhere else.