The Energy Department opened up to $400 million for basic research, including fusion

The Energy Department opened its annual Office of Science Open Call on October 1, 2026, making up to $400 million available for basic research across seven fields that include fusion energy, high-energy physics, advanced computing and biology. Unlike a one-time grant round, the solicitation stays open for a full year, so researchers can apply any time until September 30, 2027.

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The dollar figure is a ceiling spread over current and future budgets, not a check the department is writing this month, and the fine print explains why. The solicitation itself words the total as approximately $400 million in current and future fiscal year funds, subject to appropriations, which makes the $400 million a funding envelope that the department can draw on over the life of the open window.

Fusion and basic science in the Open Call

In its announcement, the department describes the Open Call as an annual notice of funding opportunity that its Office of Science issues at the start of each fiscal year for research areas not covered by narrower topical solicitations in fiscal 2027. The listed fields are Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Basic Energy Sciences, Biological and Environmental Research, Fusion Energy Sciences, High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, and Isotope R&D and Production.

Darío Gil, the department’s Under Secretary for Science, said, “Foundational research is where the breakthroughs that shape America’s future begin.” The announcement ties the money to President Trump’s executive order Restoring Gold Standard Science, signed May 23, 2025, which calls for federally funded research to be reproducible, transparent and skeptical of its own findings and assumptions.

The Office of Science describes itself as the nation’s largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences. It funds work at hundreds of universities and oversees 10 DOE national laboratories. The announcement says institutions may apply for research support, and the solicitation text spells out which kinds of organizations qualify and which, such as the national laboratories themselves, must join as partners instead.

The fine print in solicitation DE-FOA-0003665

The solicitation itself, DE-FOA-0003665 Part 1, puts the total at approximately $400 million in current and future fiscal year funds, subject to appropriations, with award sizes depending on the number of meritorious applications and the money available. Project periods run from six months to five years, most commonly three. Cost sharing is not required for basic research, and most applicant types can apply, though DOE and NNSA national laboratories cannot apply directly and can only be proposed as subrecipients.

For-profit applicants must include an appendix of up to 200 words explaining how the work advances basic science, because the solicitation states that it “does not support an applicant’s commercial activity.” The document also notes that the Open Call merges high-energy and nuclear physics into one program area, a grouping the press release lists as two fields.

Timing varies by topic. The department’s funding opportunities page lists the solicitation as posted September 30, 2026, and some topics run scheduled review panels, with pre-applications required for certain panels. The advanced computing office, for example, lists a November 22, 2026 pre-application date and a January 24, 2027 application date for an analog computing panel, while most Basic Energy Sciences areas encourage pre-applications by November 30, 2026 and applications by February 1, 2027.

Award mechanics are modest at the panel level. The solicitation caps awards in the advanced computing office’s panel-specific topics at $500,000 per year across all institutions, with at most two awards per panel. Budget periods generally run nine to 18 months, applicants are asked to prepare 12-month budgets, and the document encourages them to contact subprogram managers before submitting, since each area lists its own priorities, contacts and target dates. Applications that arrive after a panel’s acceptance date may be held for the next panel instead of being rejected.

Where fusion fits

Fusion is one slice of a broad pool, and the Open Call is a general-purpose channel rather than a fusion program. The solicitation lists Fusion Energy Sciences subareas that include theory, simulation and artificial intelligence, fusion materials, toroidal long-pulse devices, compact toroidal concepts, inertial fusion energy, measurement innovation, fusion nuclear science, plasma science and public-private partnerships. The announcement and the solicitation text do not publish a per-field split of the $400 million.

The budget request shows what else is competing for the same program’s attention. The department’s fiscal 2027 request for Fusion Energy Sciences asks for $755.3 million, a drop of $50.4 million from the $805.7 million enacted for fiscal 2026. Within that, the research line rises to $568.8 million from $510.8 million, while U.S. contributions to the ITER construction project fall to $77.5 million from $170.7 million.

Because the Open Call stays open through September 2027 and the award amounts depend on appropriations, the practical question for fusion researchers is how many proposals clear review in each panel cycle, not how much of the $400 million is reserved for them. The earliest cycles are already scheduled: Basic Energy Sciences lists applications on electron and scanning probe microscopies by December 1, 2026, and pre-applications for most of its other areas by November 30, 2026.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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