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could be this.

Oct 13, 2014

US targets novel fusion research

http://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/news/58886 A US government agency has launched a new $30m programme to support alternative approaches to generating energy from nuclear fusion. The initiative has been created by the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), which falls under the auspices of the Department of Energy (DOE). In August, the DOE invited researchers to "develop and demonstrate low-cost tools to aid in the development of fusion power". Research teams need to outline their proposals by 14 October with three-year grants ranging from $250,000 to $10m up for grabs.

The new programme from ARPA-E will tap into this middle ground, focusing both on "targets" (methods for containing plasmas) and "drivers" (systems for heating and compressing plasmas). "I have long advocated that the parameter space in-between conventional [magnetic-fusion and inertial-fusion] regimes is clearly where the advantages of [both] can be combined, while eliminating some of the disadvantages," says plasma physicist Glen Wurden of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, who works on magnetized plasmas.

"Members of the HEDP fusion community, especially those previously working in the area of magneto-inertial fusion before the funding was cut, were thrilled to finally see the ARPA-E funding opportunity announced," he adds.

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In fact there are a lot of small fusion companies currently jousting for money.

Here's another "small fusion" concept that a private company is working on:

http://lawrencevilleplasmaphysics.com/ The technique they're using is called "plasma focus fusion." They're currently rebuilding their experiment to eliminate arcing that was vaporizing their electrical connection and contaminating the plasma. They expect to have the new device up in a few months; they've already moved the connector outside the vacuum chamber, and have successfully used an indium ring and silver plating on the steel baseplate to reduce the resistance to 6 μΩ. ( Eric Lerner's focus fusion process involves creating electricity directly without the need for heating water to spin a turbine. The cost is but a fraction of coal power production, nearly inexhaustible fuel supplies, and totally clean.)

Another small fusion company, unfortunately their website is being rebuilt, called "Polywell fusion" that's based on the Farnsworth-Hirsch Fusor, as extended by the late Dr. Robert Bussard. They have finished proving that their magnetic containment scheme will work for a net-power-output fusion device, and posted a paper on arXiv: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1406.0133v1.pdf

Also worthy of note are Electron Power Systems http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/central/ and General Fusion http://www.generalfusion.com/ both of which are less promising to my mind than either the Plasma Focus or the Polywell. Here's a blog post on the Polywell arXiv paper, which details what they've accomplished and announced, and what remains to be done: http://nextbigfuture.com/2014/06/bussard-emc2-fusion-project-publishes.html

The money and brains behind all these groups is very respectable.

Here's another small fusion company callled Helion Energy. http://www.helionenergy.com/?page_id=704

Another polywell fusion company that has had funding from the Navy is called emc2.

http://nextbigfuture.com/2014/10/emc2-fusion-releases-results-and-needs.html

My own opinion is that the sheer number of small companies invested in fusion, the respectability of their participants and their money backing suggests that fusion will be solved this decade; I think it's a virtual certainty that if it's not, it will be in the 2020s.