This is the first electronic newsletter for the Fusion Energy Division (FED) of the American Nuclear Society (ANS). To obtain a readable format for the widest viewer audience possible, the format is plain ASCII text.
The FED plans on issuing two newsletters per year. The topics for this newsletter are:
I would like to review some of the accomplishments of the ANS Fusion Energy
Division (FED) and the latest developments in the U.S. fusion program. Fusion
is in a period of transition. There are greater challenges facing fusion
today than in previous years. Chief among these is budgetary. At a time
when magnetic fusion is making significant strides in plasma containment
and understanding and when it appears to be on the threshold of achieving
its goal, Congress is wavering in its support and has significantly reduced
the budget over the past three years. The inertial fusion program has also
made much technical progress, and their budget has increased drammatically,
but exclusively for their Defense Program mission. From Congress'
perspective the lack of an energy crisis reduces the need for a Demo by
2025; and, as a result, it is their opinion that fusion should focus on
understanding the Science of Plasma Physics rather than on energy
production. They also directed the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES)
to restructure its objectives to reflect this changing role.
In an attempt to curtail this trend of decreasing budgets, the OFES held a
Strategic Planning Workshop on October 22-24, 1996. An objective of this
Workshop was to identify goals for measuring progress in the three program
elements contained in the DOE Strategic Plan ( DOE/ER-0684). The three
elements are: (1) understanding the Physics of Plasmas, the fourth state of
matter; (2) identifying and exploring innovative and cost-effective
development paths to fusion energy; and (3) exploring the science and
technology of energy producing plasmas, the next frontier in fusion
research, as a partner in an international effort. Workshop participants
represented the major magnetic and inertial programs; universities; and
Congressional committees, in addition to representatives of the APS, IEEE,
and the ANS/FED. John Davis participated on behalf of FED.
In addition to the Workshop, the ANS/FED, along with APS and IEEE, are
participating in FESAC on an ex officio basis. This is an excellent
opportunity for the FED, because it allows the Professional Societies to
participate in an active way in the various reviews FESAC is asked to
undertake. It also helps FED get a better understanding of the Issues and
Challenges facing the OFES. One of the first reviews this fiscal year was
to review the ITER Detailed Design Report (DDR) and to determine the
adequacy of the DDR as part of the basis for a US decision to enter into
negotiations past the explorer stage. This review was completed in April
of this year. The ITER DDR report was accepted, based on this point in the
study. Another review will be undertaken when the Final Design Report is
released in December 1997. A second review is in progress to identify the
possible scenarios for US participation in ITER construction under the
current budget guidelines. This subpanel is scheduled to report to FESAC
in October of this year. We will update these activities in the next
newsletter.
DID YOU EVER WONDER WHAT HAPPENS TO THE PUBLIC POLICY STATEMENTS CREATED BY
THE DIVISION?
Contrary to popular thought, the Public Policy Statements developed by the
Division are not filed in a drawer but are distributed. Recently FED
updated the Policy Statement on the state of Fusion. After approval by the
FED Board (June 1996), this statement was forwarded to the ANS Public
Policy Committee for review and approval. At the ANS Winter Meeting
(November 1996), it was reviewed and approved subject to minor changes.
These changes were incorporated and the revised policy was sent to the ANS
Board of Directors, who have subsequently approved the statement. The
approved statement is now published on the ANS and FED web pages. The
statement was also sent to the American Association of Engineering
Societies for incorporation into their pamphlet on Public Policies and
Priorities. The Fusion Policy can be found under Engineering Research and
Innovation. This pamphlet is distributed to all member of Congress at the
start of the Congressional Year.
In closing, I would like to say that it has been an honor to serve you as
your 96/97 Chair of FED. I'm grateful to the members of the FED Executive
Committee for their support of the division activities throughout the year.
William Hogan will lead the division in 97-98. He will need the same
support from all of us to continue improve our division. This doesn't mean
that I am going away, but moving to the position of ex-chairman where I hope
to be able to provide Bill with any support he requires to move the
Division forward. We will make a good team with Bill's experience and
understanding of Inertial Fusion and mine on Magnetic Fusion; we can ensure
that both confinement concepts can be moved ahead. Thank you all for your
support.
Executive Committee and Officers
The Fusion Energy Division is fortunate to have 23 officers and committee
chairs. We have an executive committee, a program committee, a nominating
committee, an honors/awards committee, a membership committee, liaisons to
other organizations, and representatives to various ANS committees. Three
positions open each year for the Executive Committee. If you are
interested in serving on this activity to further the goals of FED, please
contact the FED Chair or any of the officers cited in this newsletter.
The FED executive committees and officers are listed below. The years of
the term are quoted between brackets.
FED Web Site
We are pleased to announce that, owing totally to the effort of Mark
Tillack (UCSD), the FED World Wide Web site is now fully on line!
Look for it at http://www-ferp.ucsd.edu/ANS;
it includes the following:
The following sites have a wealth of information relevant to fusion researchers
and links to other WWW locations:
The ANS FED WWW site has access to a number of Fusion Public Information
resources that may be useful to you in making presentations about fusion,
or even just telling others about these Web sites so they can explore Fusion on
their own. Of particular interest may be the links to the fusion education
programs and fusion education resources available at General Atomics,
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, and Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory, for both magnetic and inertial fusion information. To access
the education resources, open the FED home page and then go to Educational
Links.
Treasurer's Report
Our annual income mainly comes from the ANS ($1 per person comes to FED from
our membership dues), and any money we make from our bi-annual Topical
meeting. For 1996, we received $892 from the ANS and $1800 from the Reno
meeting. For the same time period, our expenses were $2724, consisting of
payments for awards, newsletter, national meetings (e.g., conference calls)
and student support. Our projected balance at the end of 1997 is $6601.
Since 1992, including surplus, our division has been keeping a balance from
$5200 to $7500 in our account. Based on the recommendation of the Executive
Committee at the last meeting in Orlando, Florida, that we should spend more
on student awards and travel, the projected balance at the end of 1998 is
$3601 (this does not include any potential income from the 13th Topical
Meeting to be held in Nashville).
Honors and Awards
The call for nominations for three major fusion awards that will be presented
at the 13th Fusion Topical in Nashville, TN, will be issued in the Fall of
1997.
A brief description of each award is given below:
Scientists and engineers who plan to make submissions should be
preparing for those announcements. If you have any preliminary questions
on these three awards, please contact:
Fusion Energy Division Membership
The membership of the ANS Fusion Energy Division has unfortunately declined
in recent years. This is surely a reflection of the fact that the magnetic
fusion program that supports many of our members has suffered a serious
decline in recent years. This decline impacts us, because there are fewer
journal articles and presentations at meetings from which we can learn, and
it reduces the FED membership dues which support our student, honors & awards,
and public outreach programs. We as a division need to try to reverse this
trend.
As the above table shows, our membership has paralleled the OFES budget. There
does not seem to be a correlation with the ICF Program budget, perhaps
because most of the ICF effort is directed toward defense rather than
energy issues. However, as we move towards ITER and NIF, both of which
will have significant neutron yields and thus significant nuclear concerns,
ANS and FED membership will become more and more important. Many of the
physicists and engineers that have worked on fusion experiments in the past
did not have to worry too much about nuclear concerns. For ITER and NIF,
the various components (chambers, first walls, diagnostics, etc.) WILL have
serious nuclear concerns. This is the business of the ANS. We need to
reach out to these currently non-nuclear physicists and engineers and
convince them of the value of participation in the technical activities of
the ANS and the FED to their technical work and to their careers. We
request that each of you think about your colleagues and how the technical
information available through participation in ANS activities could help
them. Then go talk to them about the merits of joining the ANS/FED. Show them
relevant papers in our journals (Fusion Technology, Nuclear Technology, and
Nuclear Science and Engineering), show them the programs and proceedings of
our Fusion Technology Topical Meeting , and ask them to join the ANS/FED.
They can join via our WWW page at:
http://www.ans.org/,
or by calling ANS
Membership Services at 708-579-8266.
The FED needs your support in this important effort.
Fusion Technology Journal Needs Your Help
The ANS journals are under increasing financial pressure. If present trends
continue, they will soon become a financial liability to the ANS budget and
risk being canceled. Our fusion journal, Fusion Technology, is of
particular concern due to a growing number of unpaid page charges and
declining library subscriptions (notably universities and Eastern Europe
laboratories). It is imperative that all members of the Fusion Energy
Division support our journal. In particular, we request that each member
please take the following steps to keep Fusion Technology healthy:
Page charges are a particular concern. All ANS journals use page charges
in order to offer subscriptions to members and libraries at significantly
lower cost than that of commercial journals. Although ANS policy is to
publish papers even if page charges cannot be paid, Fusion Technology
counts on these page charges to balance its budget. Since page charges are
levied after the paper is accepted, and the paper is written after the work
is finished, difficulty frequently arises in paying these page charges
since the grant or contract that sponsored the work is actually over. To
help with this situation, ANS has established a new policy, and is willing
to arrange with the authors to prepay estimated page charges while the
contract is in place, for a paper they expect to write at the conclusion of
the work. To take advantage of this new arrangement, and prepay your page
charges, contact Mary Beth Gardner at ANS Headquarters, 708-352-6611.
If you have further suggestions, please contact Ken Schultz, our division's
representative to the ANS Publications Steering Committee or George Miley,
Fusion Technology Editor (g-miley@uiuc.edu).
13th Topical Meeting on Technology of Fusion Energy
Plans are progressing for the ANS sponsored 13th Topical Meeting on the
Technology of Fusion Energy. This meeting will be embedded in the ANS
Annual summer meeting to be held from June 7-11, 1998 at the Opryland Hotel
in Nashville. With the ITER-EDA Phase coming to a close near this time and
the NIF project proceeding toward construction, this meeting will occur at
an especially pivotal time for the fusion program. Participation in the
meeting is expected to be quite strong.
Look for the First Call for Papers that will be sent in August. Abstracts
will need to be submitted near the end of the year with papers due at the
meeting. Accepted papers will be published in a special issue of Fusion
Technology.
Get ready for a great meeting in Music City USA!
Highlights of Ongoing Fusion Research
1- Chemical Reactivity Experimental Work at INEEL
The Fusion Safety Program (FSP) at the Idaho National Engineering and
Environmental Laboratory has been investigating chemical reactivity of
fusion plasma facing materials experimentally for several years. Of
particular interest is hydrogen production when hot plasma-facing surfaces
are exposed to steam during a Loss of Coolant Accident. Materials studied
experimentally include beryllium, tungsten alloy, carbon, stainless steel,
niobium, and copper. Hydrogen production is measured by more than one
method to increase confidence in the data. Measurement methods include
direct measurement by mass spectrometer, gas chromatograph, or collection
of gas, and indirect measurements such as hydrogen based on weight gain,
thickness of oxide layer, and material recession.
In these experiments, the sample is brought to temperature under an argon
gas purge. Either inductive and tube furnace heating can be used. Once
the sample is at the desired test temperature, steam is allowed to flow
through the system. Test times vary from very short (minutes) to long
(hours) depending on the reactivity of the material and the test
temperature.
Current chemical reactivity work is primarily in support of the
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). The first
chemical reactivity tests on irradiated beryllium were done by the FSP in
1996 for the ITER project. The aim of these experiments was to determine
the effect of irradiation on the chemical reactivity of the beryllium.
Additional tests are planned for the summer of 1997 to further investigate
this.
Recent attention has been focused on the chemical reactivity of tokamak
dust. Because there are three plasma-facing materials planned for use in
ITER: beryllium, carbon, and tungsten, the dust will likely be made up of
all three of these materials. The dust may be more porous than the solid
material already tested, providing increased surface area for chemical
reactivity. The FSP will focus on chemical reactivity of tokamak dust
during FY-98.
2- National Ignition Facility at LLNL
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is an $1.2 billion ICF facility in
which a 1.8 MJ solid state laser will compress and heat an ICF target to
ignition conditions. In ICF targets designed for high energy gain, the
objective is to compress a lot of cold fuel and heat only a small portion
of the center (i.e. the "spark plug"). Then the DT reactions in the center
ignite more of the cold, surrounding fuel through deposition of the alpha
energy. Ignition is defined as when the alpha deposition doubles the
temperature obtained from the laser compression and heating alone. The NIF
received authority to begin construction (Critical Decision 3) from the DOE
on March 7, 1997 and a formal groundbreaking ceremony was held on May 29,
1997 with a list of distinguished speakers led by Secretary Pena.
Preliminary design (Title I) was completed last Fall and the team is well
along into final design. In March initial site preparation work at LLNL
began with the movement of some utility lines and parking lots. The
excavation of the three story basement is scheduled to begin in July with
substantial concrete pouring in the Fall. Through FY97, NIF has been
appropriated about $270 million. The administration has requested all
remaining funds for NIF in the FY98 budget request.
A lawsuit to stop NIF has been filed by non-government organizations
(NGOs), led by the Natural Resources Defense Council. The suit is actually
against the entire Stockpile Stewardship and Management Program (SSMP) of
which NIF is a key element. A Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement
(PEIS) for the SSMP has been completed and a Record of Decision filed on
December 19, 1996. Within that PEIS was contained the environmental
documentation for NIF to satisfy the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) requirements. The NGOs have filed suit asserting that the PEIS
process was flawed. They have asked for an injunction to stop all new
activities within the SSMP, including NIF, until the case is heard. The
hearing on the lawsuit was held June 17 with the decision on the request
for an injunction due June 27, 1997. In the meantime construction on NIF is
proceeding on schedule for a 2003 completion date (with initial operating
capability in 2001).
International Activities
1- Fusion Research Activities at IAEA
The IAEA provides many services to facilitate nuclear fusion research:
provision of nuclear data, atomic and molecular data, and plasma-material
interaction data; the journal Nuclear Fusion; the biennial Fusion Energy
Conference (Montreal 1996; Yokohama 1998); Coordinated Research Programs
(CRPs); Technical Committee Meetings (TCMs); Advisory Group Meetings
(AGMs); the book Energy from Inertial Fusion; the World Survey of
Activities in Controlled Fusion Research; Technical Cooperation projects in
developing countries; and provision of auspices for ITER.
The purposes of a CRP are to advance the research and to help developing
countries improve their research capabilities. A joint research topic is
selected, and each participant works on an appropriate aspect of the
problem. A CRP typically involves about 6-15 participants, of which many
are from developing countries, and lasts 2-5 years. Here are some recent
CRP topics:
Up to 50 participants, nominated by their governments, may attend a TCM,
which typically lasts 2-4 days. The proceedings are usually published in a
technical journal or as an IAEA TECDOC. Here are some recent TCM topics:
Advisory Group Meetings typically have 3-8 experts who discuss a specific
issue and write a report. AGMs have been held on Inertial Fusion Energy
and on Third World Plasma Research. In addition, the International Fusion
Research Council, comprised of twelve senior fusion researchers, meets
annually to advise the Agency on fusion matters. The IAEA is also
coordinating its activities with those of the International Energy Agency
(part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris),
which has 8 implementing agreements in various areas of fusion research.
2- Recent International Developments
In spite of the reduction of experimental programs in the USA, several new
experiments are planned in other countries, for example:
Calendar of Upcoming Conferences on Fusion Technology
Any comments on FED newsletter!?
The FED newsletter will be issued twice a year. It can be accessed at:
http://www-ferp.ucsd.edu/ANS.
If you have newsworthy items to be
considered for the next newsletter or if you have comments on this
newsletter, please send them to:
elguebaly@engr.wisc.edu
or
bathke@lanl.gov.
We would like to hear from you...
Please share this newsletter with your colleagues as our E-mail
distribution list is incomplete and excuse duplicate messages resulting
from the overlap of some project E-mail aliases. The ANS membership form
is our primary source for E-mail addresses. Unfortunately, not all FED
members have included their E-mail addresses in the ANS membership form.
Also, some E-mail addresses are misinterpreted as the form is often completed
by hand. If you have not received an electronic copy of this newsletter or
if you are aware of others (who need not be ANS members) who wish to receive
this newsletter, please send an E-mail to:
elguebaly@engr.wisc.edu
The content of this newsletter represents the views of the FED Executive
Committee and does not constitute an official position of any U.S.
governmental department or international agency.
Message from the Chairman
Chair: William Hogan (97-98) bill-hogan@llnl.gov
Vice-Chair: Wayne Houlberg (97-98) houlbergwa@ornl.gov
(automatically becomes Chairman in 98)
Secretary/Treasurer: Clement Wong (96-98) wongc@gav.gat.com
Executive Committee Members:
Jim Anderson (94-97) jla@lanl.gov
Chuck Bathke (95-98) bathke@lanl.gov
Locke Bogart (95-98) elbogart@aol.com
John Davis (94-97) davis@lllsrv.mdc.com
Tom Dolan (95-98) T.Dolan@iaea.org
Don Dudziak (96-99) dudziak@ncsu.edu
Laila El-Guebaly (94-97) elguebaly@engr.wisc.edu
John Haines (94-97) hainesjr@fedc04.fed.ornl.gov
Grant Logan (97-00) logan1@llnl.gov
Kathy McCarthy (96-99) km3@inel.gov
Doug Post (94-97) postd@iterus.org
David Ruzic (96-99) druzic@uiuc.edu
Robert Santoro (97-00) santorr@sat.ipp-garching.mpg.de
Ken Schultz (94-97) schultz@gav.gat.com
Yasushi Seki (97-00) sekiy@naka.jaeri.go.jp
FED Committee Chairs:
Nominating Committee: John Davis
Honors/Awards Committee: Gerald Kulcinski
Membership Committee: Ken Schultz
13th Topical Committee: John Davis
John Haines
Liaisons to other Organizations: John Davis -MS&T
George Miley-IEEE
Representatives on ANS Program Committees: John Haines
Representatives on ANS Publications Committees: Ken Schultz
Representatives on ANS National Committees: Kathy McCarthy
FED Newsletter Editors: Laila El-Guebaly and Chuck Bathke
ANS/FED Web site maintenance: Mark Tillack and Chuck Bathke
The FED executive committee usually meets on the first Sundays (2-4 PM) of
the ANS summer and winter annual meetings. The room assignment can be
obtained from the ANS secretary. All ANS-FED members are invited to
attend. Please drop by to learn what the FED is doing these days.
1996 actual 1997 projected 1998 proposed
INCOME ($)
- Member Dues 892 675 700
- Topical Profit 1800 TBD
- Pass Forward 7483 7451 6601
EXPENSES ($)
- Newsletter 100 100
- Awards 1469 325 1000
- Student Support 1000 500 2000
- Meetings 255 600 600
- Pass Forward 7451 6601 3601
Professor Gerald L. Kulcinski, Chairman
ANS/FED Honors and Awards Committee
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Department of Engineering Physics
1500 Engineering Drive
Madison, WI 53706
Telephone: (608) 263-2308
Fax: (608) 263-4499
1992 1997 % Change
FED Membership 1070 675 -37%
OFES Budget $335M $225M -33%
ICF Budget $165M $175M +6%
(NIF Project $0 $191M --)
Thus, many countries recognize the need for fusion power and are
continuing to build on current achievements.
Fusion Power Associates Annual Meeting and Symposium
August 27-29, 1997, Aspen/Snowmass, Colorado
http://aries.ucsd.edu/fpa/
72570.707@compuserve.com
Joint Conf. of 11th Int. Stellarator Conf. and 8th Int. Toki Conf. on
Plasma Physics and Controlled Nuclear Fusion (ITC-8)
29 September - 3 October, 1997, Gifu, Japan
itc8@nifs.ac.jp
17th IEEE/NPSS Symposium on Fusion Energy
October 6-10,1997, San Diego, CA
http://aries.ucsd.edu/SOFE97/
Innovative Approaches to Fusion Energy (IAEA-TCM)
October 20-23, 1997, Pleasanton, California, USA
davalos1@llnl.gov
8th Int. Conference on Fusion Reactor Materials - ICFRM-8
October 26-31, 1997, Sendai, Japan
http://www.icfrm8.nucle.tohoku.ac.jp/
icfrm8@fusion.imr.tohoku.ac.jp
1997 ANS Winter Meeting
November 16-20, 1997, Albuquerque, NM
http://www.ans.org/
12th ICF Target Fabrication Specialists' Meeting
February, 1998, Jackson Hole, WO
lforem@lanl.gov
13th Topical Meeting on Technology of Fusion Energy
June 7-11, 1998, Nashville, TN
17th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference
October 20-26, 1998, Yokohama, Japan.
ide@naka.jaeri.go.jp
20th Symposium on Fusion Technology - SOFT 98
September 1998, Marseille, France
5th Int. Symposium on Fusion Nuclear Technology - ISFNT-5
October 1999, Rome, Italy