Fiscal Year 2025 Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research | DE FOA 0003309

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0003309

The Fiscal Year 2025 Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research (CINR) funding opportunity (DE-FOA-0003309) is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) competitive grant program aimed at advancing nuclear energy science and technology in ways that directly support U.S. energy, environmental, and economic needs. The program is built around DOE-NE's core mission priorities: keeping the current U.S. reactor fleet operating safely and economically, enabling deployment of new nuclear reactors (including advanced designs), securing and sustaining the nuclear fuel cycle, and expanding international nuclear energy cooperation. Proposals are expected to clearly connect to at least one of these four priorities and explain how the work supports broader DOE priorities, with an emphasis on research that helps move innovative nuclear technologies closer to real-world use.

A key feature of this opportunity is its focus on integrated, collaborative research that brings together universities, national laboratories, industry, and in some cases international partners, aligning work under the direction of DOE-NE program goals. The FOA explicitly draws boundaries around what it will consider: applications that are primarily focused on topics outside DOE-NE's mission, such as fusion energy, medical physics, nuclear forensics, or environmental management, are not eligible for review and will not be considered. In practice, this means applicants should frame their technical approach, deliverables, and outcomes in terms of nuclear fission energy objectives and the specific challenges facing the current and future nuclear energy system.

Funding is offered as grants under a discretionary program in the energy activity category (CFDA 81.121). Eligible applicants include public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, for-profit organizations that are not small businesses, and small businesses. The award ceiling listed is $4,000,000 per award, indicating the program can support projects at a meaningful scale depending on topic area, scope, and DOE-NE priorities. The opportunity is administered through the DOE Idaho Field Office. The original closing date is November 13, 2024, and the opportunity was created on May 20, 2024.

The CINR FOA consolidates competitive research and development pathways through two major DOE-NE mechanisms: the Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) and the Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF). NEUP generally supports university-led research, development, and infrastructure projects that are directly relevant to DOE-NE mission needs, which can include advancing methods, data, materials, modeling, fuels, instrumentation, or other capabilities that strengthen the U.S. nuclear energy knowledge base and workforce. NSUF, on the other hand, is designed to expand access to specialized nuclear research infrastructure, providing researchers from U.S. universities, national laboratories, and industry with the ability to use material test reactors, beamlines, and post-irradiation examination capabilities that are difficult to replicate elsewhere. In effect, NSUF helps teams perform high-value experiments and characterization work needed to validate materials and fuels performance, improve predictive models, and reduce technical uncertainty for current and next-generation reactor systems.

Overall, this FOA is intended for applicants whose work is tightly aligned with DOE-NE priorities and who can articulate practical, mission-driven outcomes, whether those outcomes involve extending the life and performance of existing reactors, overcoming technical barriers to deploying new designs, strengthening domestic fuel cycle resilience, or supporting U.S. leadership and cooperation in global nuclear energy development.

• The Idaho Field Office in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Fiscal Year 2025 Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.121.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-05-20.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-11-13. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $4,000,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses.

Apply for DE FOA 0003309

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