US fusion program requirements for superconducting magnet research

Future superconducting magnets for fusion applications require improvements in materials and components to significantly enhance the feasibility and attractiveness of fusion reactors as an energy source. These improvements will derive from research and development carried out at government laboratories, universities, and in industry. Research and development carried out under the DOE Office of Fusion Energy Sciences SBIR's and STTR's can provide a significant contribution to this effort by encouraging small businesses to focus on areas of high critical current density superconductors with low to moderate ac losses, superconductors with both high and low stabilizer fraction, superconducting cables with high copper strand fractions, insulation systems that are radiation-resistant with low gas evolution and suitable for vacuum-pressure impregnation (VPI) of coils, and novel quench detectors and other types of advanced magnet system monitoring instrumentation.