Executive Committee Members:
FED Committee Chairs:
Treasurer's Report, Sandra Brereton,
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California
As of April 1999, our division has a balance of $6,233. Income in 1998 included:
Expenses in 1998 included:
For 1999, our income will include approximately $600 from membership dues.
Anticipated expenses in 1999 include:
In the past, a complicated method was used to determine the amount of funds the technical
divisions within ANS would be allowed to carry forward from one year to the next. On
occasion, this calculation required year-end balances to be "adjusted", based on spending.
At the November ANS National Meeting in Washington D.C., the ANS Board of Directors
elected to eliminate the carry forward calculation. From this point on, the ending statement
balance for the previous year will always be the beginning balance for the current year.
Fusion Technology Journal Needs Your
Help!, Ken Schultz, General Atomics, San Diego, California.
The ANS Fusion Energy Division is extremely fortunate to have a high quality journal,
Fusion Technology, devoted almost entirely to topics of interest to the Division. It
is our journal. However, Fusion Technology is in serious trouble. We are
close to going subcritical! If we cannot reverse this trend, Fusion Technologywill
be canceled. 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 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,
frequently difficulty arises in paying these page charges since the grant or contract that
sponsored the work is actually over. To help with this situation, ANS 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 arrangement,
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.
Meeting Announcement: ANS 14th
Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy, William
Carmack, Fusion Safety Program, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental
Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho
The 2000 American Nuclear Society 14th Topical Meeting on the Technology
of Fusion Energy will be held at the Olympia Park Hotel in Park City, Utah from October
15th to the 19th, 2000. This will be the first ANS Fusion
Topical Meeting of the new millennium. Please plan to join us in Park City for an
international exchange and meeting on the latest developments in fusion technology. It will
be an international forum for presentation and discussion of scientific and technical
information covering all aspects of fusion technology, including the most recent
developments in both inertial and magnetic confinement fusion energy. The meeting will
offer an excellent opportunity for people involved or interested in fusion activities to learn
of the latest developments in the field of fusion nuclear energy.
The meeting web site provides detailed information on abstract submittal, meeting
registration, lodging, and activities. Abstracts will be accepted beginning in July 1999.
The web site can be found at: http://ev2.inel.gov/ParkCity/. Please plan to join
us in Park City in October of 2000.
1999 Fusion Summer Study: Opportunities and
Directions in Fusion Energy Science for the Next Decade,
Michael Mauel, Department of Applied Physics, Columbia University, New York.
Individuals involved with fusion research are invited to come together at Snowmass,
Colorado for two weeks of discussion, technical debate, and spectacular scenery during
July 11-23, 1999. The Fusion Summer Study is entitled "Opportunities and Directions in
Fusion Energy Science for the Next Decade." The goal of the workshop is to interact with
each other and to develop a scientific and technical basis for consensus on (1) the key
issues for plasma science, technology, and energy and environment for fusion energy
development, and (2) the opportunities and potential contributions of existing and possible
future facilities and programs to reduce fusion development costs and achieve attractive
economic and environmental features.
The 1999 Fusion Summer Study is a workshop endorsed by the American Physical Society
(APS) and the ANS Division of Fusion Energy. The workshop will be open to all
members of the international fusion science and technology community including experts in
all approaches to magnetic and inertial fusion energy, and it is co-sponsored by DOE and
all of the major US fusion research centers, laboratories, and organizations.
The level of interest expressed in Snowmass has been gratifying. The meeting will be
attended by well over 250 scientists and engineers, and the fusion community should be
looking forward to a highly productive workshop.
The 1999 Fusion Summer Study has been modeled, in part, after the series of workshops
held at the same location by the APS Division of Particles and Fields. The meeting begins
with a day of plenary talks by US and international leaders of the fusion program. After
that, participants will divide into six working groups with several subtopical discussion
groups lead by convenors and session chairs. At the end of the workshop, the working
group convenors will summarize the scientific and technical findings of each group.
Proceedings of the Fusion Summer Study will be published on a CD-ROM. The
proceedings will include summary reports from each working group and from each
subgroup. Page-limited contributions from individuals are also welcome.
The web-page of the Summer Study is located at http://www.pppl.gov/snowmass. The web
site presents the general schedule, lists the working group convenors, and suggests key
questions to stimulate discussion within the subgroups. Three working groups meet in the
mornings to discuss fusion research from the point-of-view of the various fusion concepts:
Emerging Fusion Concepts, Inertial Fusion Concepts, and Magnetic Fusion Concepts. In
the afternoons, three "cross-cutting" working groups will meet to discuss fusion research
from the point-of-view of Plasma Science, Energy Issues, and Technology. Working days
end with an outdoor social hour surrounded by mountain views.
The working group convenors are representatives knowledgeable of the broad,
interdisciplinary character of fusion research. Over the past few months, they have
constructed a framework for discussing the key scientific and technical issues associated
with fusion's next decade. The working group meetings will not be a series of seminars.
Instead, subtopical discussion groups will leadoff with one or two short but provocative
talks followed by discussions and/or smaller break-out groups. Key issues are treated as
scientific problems to be addressed on honest technical grounds, and results from the
break-out groups are reported back to the larger working and subtopical groups for further
discussion. All Snowmass participants are strongly encouraged to contact the convenors of
those working groups in which they are most interested and become involved with ongoing
preparations.
The 1999 Fusion Summer Study will be a wonderful opportunity for participants to
develop a greater appreciation of the goals and objectives of fusion's many subdisciplines.
The meeting will also be located away from the distractions of daily business at a
spectacular and well-equipped meeting site. Participants will be able to share ideas with the
entire fusion community, socialize with scientific and technical colleagues, and contribute
directly to the future direction of fusion energy science.
Advanced Design Program, Farrokh Najmabadi,
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Fusion Energy Research Program,
University of California San Diego
The Advanced Design Program (also known as the "Power-Plant Studies Program" or
"System Studies Program") encompasses research efforts on identifying the role of fusion
in a global energy strategy and power plant studies. During the past ten years, these
research activities have been at the forefront in identifying the optimal plasma-physics
regimes of operation for different confinement concepts as well as identifying the critical
issues and direction of high-leverage research in physics and technology for the U.S. and
worldwide fusion programs. This role has become even more critical with the expanded
focus on innovation and new initiatives in the U.S. fusion program.
Development of fusion as a commercial product is a great challenge, in part for technical
reasons, in part due to limited resources, and in part due to competition from other options.
Strategic planning and forecasting studies help develop criteria describing what fusion must
do to be successful in the market place. Socioeconomic studies of fusion's role in a
sustainable global energy strategy address the potential of fusion to resolve global energy
issues such as greenhouse gases and sustainable economic development, as highlighted in
the Rio and Kyoto Agreements. In 1999, several new initiatives were launched in this
area. Because the cost of energy from fusion sources is dramatically reduced as the fusion
power is increased, a study by ORNL and partners from industry and utilities is aimed at
identifying options to deploy large fusion power plants including hydrogen production and
co-generation (of hydrogen and electricity). A study by PPPL is aimed at establishing the
merits and addressing the issues associated with the introduction of the fusion electricity.
The focus of this study is the environmental impact of reduced CO2
emission, waste disposal, and waste recycling; resource needs of special materials and
tritium; and the potential role of fusion/fission combinations. A study by the University of
Wisconsin-Madison will calculate and compare energy payback ratio and
CO2 emission rate from fusion as well as fossil fuels, fission, and wind
power plants.
Most of the research in the power plant studies area is performed by the national power
plant studies program, the ARIES Team. Two projects are underway: (1) Advanced
ARIES-RS, and (2) Non-Electric Applications. ARIES-RS is the current vision of the
advanced tokamak program and is used to determine R&D directions in both physics and
technology. Considerable progress in the understanding of advanced tokamaks has been
made in the last two years since the conclusion of the ARIES-RS research study. This
progress has shown that plasmas with higher performance can be achieved. New efforts
on next-step options are expected to concentrate on developing lower cost development
options for fusion. The cornerstone of this strategy is to use advanced tokamak modes to
achieve high performance. As a result, the tokamak program will focus even more on
advanced tokamak modes.
Questions have been raised by many program leaders on how good ARIES-RS can become
if both higher performance physics and higher performance technologies (e.g., higher-field
magnets) can be assumed. The advanced ARIES-RS research is launched to address this
issue. We expect that new insights in the optimization of advanced tokamak modes will
lead to higher performance plasmas with a higher beta and lower current-drive power as
compared to ARIES-RS. In the technology area, improvements to the overall system may
be possible using high-temperature superconductors (HTS) because of their capabilities for
higher critical current density at higher field and operation at or close to liquid nitrogen
temperature. The development of HTS in recent years has been dramatic and is expected to
continue rapidly in the coming decade. Since SiC/SiC composites were first proposed in
ARIES-I, R&D results have become available and new design ideas developed. For
example, it appears that combination of SiC/SiC composites, as a structural material, with
PbLi coolant/breeder can lead to a high performance blanket. Because of the high coolant-
outlet temperature of such blanket, Brayton power conversion systems with high
efficiency, approaching 60%, can be used.
During the last few years, the progression of the ARIES designs (pulsed-tokamak, steady-
state operation, and reversed shear) have shown that improved physics and technology lead
to a factor of almost two reduction in size and cost of electricity. Advanced ARIES-RS
research will follow this trends toward more attractive fusion power plants.
The ARIES Team also has launched a study on the non-electric applications of fusion.
Non-electric applications have been considered since the earliest days of the fusion
program. Early considerations of fusion included: (1) hybrids for breeding of fossile fuel
(i.e., in an energy-suppressed mode of operation) and also hybrids for energy
production (i.e., in a mode in which the fusion neutrons drive a subcritical blanket);
(2) the use of fusion neutrons for the transmutation of radioactive waste from fission
reactors; and (3) the application of a fusion-based neutron source for fusion materials and
engineering testing. More recent studies have added to the repertoire applications such as
tritium production, burning of plutonium from dismantled weapons, radioisotope
production, medical radiotherapy, hydrogen production, and detection of explosives. A
unique characteristic of the more recent studies is the consideration of applications allowing
a range of neutron source strengths from ~1011 - 1013 n/s, on
the low-end, up to ~1019 - 1021 n/s on the high-end. The
high-end studies have considered plasmas based on ITER physics, advanced mode
tokamak operation, and the spherical torus. The low-end studies have focused on the
inertial electrostatic confinement concept.
Based on the previous discussion, the ARIES team has initiated the study of a fusion
neutron source focused at the high-end neutron strength, ~1019 -
1021 n/s. The purpose of this study is to assess the potential and
competitiveness of a fusion neutron source as a near-term application of fusion energy
research. This study will begin with a concept definition phase that will last about six
months and consist of five activities: (1) Assessment to identify the most useful application
and product, (2) Interactions with the fission and accelerator communities to understand the
potential of reactors and accelerators for neutron source applications, (3) System studies to
assess the performance/metrics of ITER-based and advanced mode tokamaks and the
spherical torus for neutron source applications (this would include assessments of both D-T
and D-D-T fuel cycles), (4) A compilation and assessment of the engineering and nuclear
performance of the various concepts proposed for neutron-source applications including
fusion, fission and accelerator systems, and (5) An assessment of the environmental,
safety, and licensing implications of fusion neutron source applications such as plutonium
disposition and radioactive waste transmutation. Depending on the results of the concept
definition phase, a design phase may be launched to further examine one of the
embodiments and to evolve a development plan.
For further information on the ARIES project, visit the ARIES web site: http://aries.ucsd.edu/PUBLIC
Inertial Fusion Energy Technology - R&D on
Chambers and Targets, Wayne Meier and Grant Logan, Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, and Ken Schultz, General Atomics,
San Diego, California.
In FY99, the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES) established the Virtual Laboratory
for Technology (VLT) as part of the restructuring of its Technology Program and named
Dr. Charles Baker from the University of California-San Diego (UCSD) as director. The
VLT includes five elements: Plasma Technologies, Fusion Technologies, Advanced
Design, Advanced Materials, and Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) Technology.
The IFE Technology element is coordinated by Dr. B. Grant Logan from Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The scope of IFE Technology R&D encompasses
The major challenges in developing IFE chambers and target systems for inertial fusion
power plants arise from the basic system requirements of these subsystems, which include
the need to:
Conceptual design studies have identified research and development needs for several
driver/chamber /target options, the most promising of which are dry-wall chambers with
direct-drive targets for laser drivers (KrF and DPSSL drivers), and renewable liquid-wall
chambers with indirect-drive targets for heavy ion drivers. Over the next four years, the
Phase I research objectives in power plant systems for both approaches is to show (through
assessment studies, small scale experiments and simulations) that technical solutions are
plausible for the most critical issues to meet the power plant requirements. This work must
provide a firm basis for request for larger amounts of money required after Phase I to
demonstrate integrated solutions at full fusion chamber conditions. Preliminary plans for a
~$7M/y R&D program are being proposed to DOE with activities in the following areas:
Liquid Chamber R&D. Liquid wall chamber concepts use either a thin liquid
layer (e.g., Prometheus, Osiris, and HIBALL concepts) to protect chamber structures from
short-ranged target emissions (x rays and debris) or a thick liquid layer to also protect
structures from neutron damage and reduce activation (e.g., HYLIFE-II). The major Phase
I research objectives for liquid chamber R&D are to determine the feasibility with scaled
liquid experiments of 1) establishing the liquid protection schemes and 2) clearing the
chamber of droplets, condensing the vapor, and recovering liquid flows in less than 1/5
second. Current work on liquid chamber fluid dynamics is underway at UC-Berkeley,
UCLA and Georgia Tech. Argonne National Lab and Idaho National Engineering and
Environmental Lab have also recently proposed activities using their facilities and expertise
to address issues related to liquid chamber R&D.
Dry Wall Chamber R&D. Dry-wall chamber concepts (e.g., Sombrero) rely
on a low-density (< 1 torr), high-z gas to prevent x-ray and debris damage to the first wall,
which is a carbon/carbon composite in the case of Sombrero. The major Phase I research
objective for dry wall chambers is to determine the plausibility of achieving dry-wall
chamber lifetimes > 1 year minimum between replacements, taking into account damage
due to neutrons, x-rays, and target debris. Modeling and experiments on gas-protected
chamber dynamics are continuing and future work is planned at the University of
Wisconsin (UW), UCSD, Sandia National Lab and UCLA. Oak Ridge National Lab
(ORNL) and Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNL) are also interested in working with the
IFE element of the VLT on assessments of materials issues.
Driver Chamber Interface. The interface of the driver beam with the fusion
chamber is an important area of R&D for the IFE/VLT. For heavy ion drivers, near term
efforts will be to produce a self-consistent design for final-focus/chamber interface
consistent with heavy-ion target requirements and protection of the focus magnets from
radiation damage and excess nuclear heating. Recent driver designs require 40 or more
beams from each of two sides for indirect drive targets, so the physical packing of these
magnets presents a design challenge. For lasers, the key issues are the design and
survivability of the final optics. Options include grazing incidence metal or liquid metal
mirrors, and hot fused silica diffractive optics or transmission gratings. Experiments to
establish laser fluence limits and analysis and experiments of radiation damage effects are
being proposed. LLNL, UCSD, UW, ORNL and others will be involved in this work
with assistance from the driver design groups at LBNL, LLNL and NRL.
Target Fabrication and Injection. At the heart of an inertial fusion
explosion is a target that has been compressed and heated to fusion conditions by the driver
beams. For direct drive, the target is a spherical capsule containing DT fuel. For indirect
drive, the capsule is contained within a metal container or hohlraum, which converts the
driver energy into x-rays to drive the capsule. The target factory at an inertial fusion power
plant must produce about 1-2 x 108 targets each year with extreme precision of
manufacture, fill them with deuterium-tritium fuel, and layer the fuel into a symmetric and
very smooth shell inside the capsule. These fragile targets must be precisely injected at a
rate of 5-10 Hz to the center of the high temperature target chamber without damage. An
integrated effort on target technologies has also begun and plans for an expanded effort
have been completed. General Atomics and Los Alamos National Lab are taking the lead in
this area. For both heavy ion and laser drivers, the near term objectives are to identify
methods for low cost manufacture and rapid injection of direct- and indirect-drive targets.
Environmental and Safety. Attractive environmental and safety
characteristics are essential to the eventual acceptance of fusion as a future energy source.
An integrated effort on E&S is planned to develop the tools and carry out analyses for both
laser and heavy ion IFE. Issues specific to each chamber approach will be addressed, for
example, activation, recovery and recycle of hohlraum materials in indirect drive targets and
dust transport in dry-wall chambers. Experiments are needed to quantify release fraction
for key in-chamber materials, which will allow more detailed accident consequence
assessments. A key goal is to develop power plant designs that can avoid the need for a
public evacuation plan. Meeting low-level waste criteria and recycling radioactive materials
to minimize waste streams are also goals of this work. LLNL, INEEL and UW are the
primary groups involved in this R&D.
Fusion Technology Activities at Karlsruhe Research
Center, Dieter Roehrig, Fusion Project Manager, Research Center Karlsruhe,
Germany
The Research Center Karlsruhe (FZK) is one of the major government-funded research
units in Germany that were founded in the late fifties in order to catch up with the activities
of the nuclear power states for a peaceful, safe, and economic use of the atom. Mainly two
advanced power reactor lines (the Helium-cooled High Temperature Pebble Bed Reactor
and the Na-cooled Fast Breeder Reactor) were being pursued at that time, where Karlsruhe
had been focused on the Fast Breeder development. Besides the traditional nuclear
activities, a diversification of topics was slowly introduced to cover novel, mainly non-
nuclear, areas of research that could not be done elsewhere either because of their specific
infrastructure needs or because of their more generic objectives that would not provide
immediate return. Among those areas, fusion technology was recognized as a genuine
topic for the Research Center Karlsruhe and, therefore, formally introduced in 1983 as a
project within its R&D programme. Despite the lack of its own plasma physics programme
and dedicated facilities, the project was seen necessary to complement the ongoing activities
mainly in the Garching Institute for Plasma Physics, with the understanding that the time
had come to address the technological issues for the next step fusion devices.
Besides this national collaboration and from the very beginning, the Karlsruhe activities
were embedded in the European Fusion Technology Programme and thus harmonized with
the contributions of the other European Associations. Meanwhile, the 5th
European Framework Programme has been adopted with a fusion-related volume of
roughly 800 Mio Euro (850 US M$) for 4 years of which FZK holds an adequate share.
Within the FZK R&D program, fusion technology amounts to about 17% which translates
into an annual budget of almost 60 Mio DM (32.5 US M$). This comprises a staff of
nearly 200 people who are working for fusion in about 10 different organisation units.
Major contributors are the Materials Research Institutes, the Institute for Technical Physics,
the Institute for Neutron Physics, the Institute for Reactor Safety, the Institute for Applied
Thermohydraulics, and the Main Departments for Engineering and for Testing Technology.
Different from the common approach adopted by other Research Centers of dedicating all
activities to a specific fusion concept (e.g., tokamak, stellarator, mirror, Éetc), the FZK
programme is broken down according to topics or components that are considered essential
elements for almost all fusion concepts. The major activities are related to the development
and testing of large superconducting magnets for plasma confinement and of plasma
heating by microwaves with the near-term goal of providing the technology for the next-
step fusion devices like the ITER tokamak and the Wendelstein-7X stellarator. The second
large complex of work is devoted to the blanket technology and structural materials
development. Those activities have a distinct long-term aspect. A third area of work, again
directed to the next-step devices like ITER, complies with the requirements of an ignited, or
driven, plasma for exhaust gas pumping and tritium processing. Besides these large R&D
blocks some more generic or safety-related studies attributed to the above topics are per-
formed. Inertial confinement-related activities are almost negligible.
In the field of magnet technology, FZK plays a leading role in the qualification of large
superconducting magnets for fusion. Already under the IEA collaboration for the Large
Coil Task (LCT), FZK had been involved in the development and pre-testing of the
Euratom coil that had afterwards been integrated in the 6 coils assembly and successfully
operated at the U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The Institute for Technical Physics
has continued since then working in the magnet technology and safety areas and is
presently engaged in the preparation of the ITER Toroidal Field Model Coil testing. To
provide a proper background field, the old LCT coil will again be used, but at a 1.8 K
cooling level. Meanwhile the existing TOSKA test bed is committed to the testing of the
prototype modular coil for the Wendelstein-7X stellarator project.
Microwave technology plays an important role not only for plasma heating, but also for
non-inductive current drive and plasma shaping for both tokamaks and stellarators. The
goal is to develop gyrotrons that operate between 140 and 170 GHz with outputs of 1 MW
or more in the continuous wave (cw) mode. In close collaboration with industry, the
development focuses on a novel high power gyrotron with a coaxial resonator and the
potential for frequency tuning. For Wendelstein-7X, FZK has the duty to provide the
complete plasma heating system based on 10 gyrotrons with 1 MW output each at a fixed
frequency of 140 GHz. An important component besides power generation is the
transmission of waves to the plasma chamber. Quasioptical transmission lines are
developed at the University of Stuttgart, whereas the covers at both ends (which have to be
windows with minimal electrical losses and at the same time reliable barriers against
vacuum and tritium leakage) have evolved from a comprehensive research at FZK and
collaboration with industry and JAERI. Synthetic diamond has proven to be the best
solution because of its extremely favorable dielectric and thermal properties. Moreover,
windows with an aperture of 80 mm that are suited for 1 MW cw transmission have been
realized. Present investigations will determine the maximum tolerable neutron load. This
is an important issue especially for ignited fusion devices.
Nuclear technology in a broader sense is pursued for fusion in the areas of tritium
technology and blanket development, comprising the long-term need for low-activation
structural materials. For any system aiming at a measurable fraction of fusion reactions,
tritium processing plays a decisive role. FZK has undertaken to develop a suitable method
for tritium recovery from the plasma exhaust gas that, at the same time, complies with the
requirements for reliability, ecology and safety. This method is based on permeation,
catalytic conversion, and isotope exchange steps. It fulfils the specification of a
decontamination factor in the 108 range and has been adopted for ITER. It is now being
demonstrated on a technical scale in our Tritium Laboratory (the only one that will be
available in Europe in the future for this purpose) with an inventory of 25 g tritium that can
be increased to up to 40 g if necessary. As a side point, a number of novel
instrumentation, process control, and accountancy issues are being realized and tested. The
powerful infrastructure of the tritium lab is now also being used to address specific issues
for JET operation wherever tritium comes into play.
In the context of exhaust gas handling, torus pumping is also a subject of R&D work at
FZK. It could be shown that cryopumping can comply with all boundary conditions of an
ignited fusion device, e.g. tritium issues, helium and impurity removal, high magnetic
fields, and high neutron load and radiation heating. Based on extensive experimental
work, a cryosorption pump was specified for ITER and a model pump at a 1:2 scale has
been built by industry. Preparations for performance testing of this device at FZK are
almost complete, and the test programme is expected to start in the first half of this year.
The blanket technology programme aims at the provision of two different European blanket
concepts, a water-cooled Pb-17Li blanket and a helium-cooled ceramic blanket. Blanket
modules shall be built and preferably be tested in ITER in order to validate the design,
identify critical issues, and evolve decision criteria for a fusion power reactor. In the
harmonized European Blanket Project, FZK maintains the role of the leading laboratory for
the solid pebble bed blanket concept and works on the majority of related tasks. Key
problems are the optimization of the concept, fabricability of the blanket box with integrated
cooling channels, behaviour of breeding material and beryllium (an indispensable neutron
multiplier), thermomechanic and thermohydraulic issues, and investigations into safety and
reliability. Neutronics is an important issue both for tritium economy and radioactivity-
related issues. Both experimental and theoretical work are going on in order to reliably
predict the attainable tritium breeding rates and to determine the shielding factors,
radioactivity levels, and heat production. Concerning the closure of the fuel cycle, tritium
release from the ceramic breeder material has been investigated out-of-pile with a large
variety of irradiated specimens. Studies have also been performed on the most effective
method of tritium extraction from the purge gas. An experimental validation is now
planned with a gas loop that is being installed in the tritium laboratory.
While ITER, or any other next step fusion device, has to rely on the available, technically
proven, nuclear-grade structural materials, a fusion power reactor can only be realized with
materials having a sufficiently long lifetime under harsh thermal and neutronic conditions
and a sufficiently low radioactivity burden that does not need deep waste repositories.
Recognizing that the development of such materials requires very long lead time, the fusion
project management has initiated from the very beginning of its activities R&D work on
ferritic steels as the most promising candidate material. The development started from a
steel that had already been qualified for high doses in a fast breeder neutron environment.
The alloy composition was gradually enhanced, especially with a view to those elements
that are responsible for the long-term activation in a fusion neutron spectrum. Besides
characterization and optimization, the behaviour of irradiated materials continues to play a
key role. In particular, radiation-induced embrittlement, as measured by impact testing, has
proven to be a sensitive method to determine neutron effects. In parallel, tools for
translating the mechanical properties into fracture-mechanical quantities and design codes
are being developed. It has also been realized that materials testing in fission reactors are
not very adequate to account for the much higher neutron energies and dose levels in the
first wall of fusion power reactors. Specifically, the helium generated by the 14 MeV
neutrons to a much higher extent cannot easily be simulated by any other means.
Therefore, FZK has been actively involved for a number of years in a study of an intense
fusion-related neutron source under the umbrella of an IEA Implementing Agreement. The
study has focused on the IFMIF conceptual design and ought to come to a decision on the
construction of such fusion neutron source soon.
You can find a wealth of further information on the FZK web site: http://www.fzk.de/pkf. (A link to the English version
is marked by the British flag).
Production of the CD-ROM of the proceedings of the 17th IAEA Fusion
Energy Conference (Yokohama, Japan, October 1998) has been delayed, because most of
the electronic files submitted were not in the required form. Planning is underway for the
18th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference in Sorrento, Italy, 4-10 October
2000.
We would welcome suggestions for future IAEA activities from ANS members. The
International Fusion Research Council will meet in Vienna 9-10 June to advise the IAEA
about its 2001-2002 programme plan.
Calendar of Upcoming Conferences on Fusion
Technology
ANS Annual Meeting
1999 Fusion Summer Study
First International Conference on Inertial Fusion Sciences and Applications -
IFSA
(formerly LIRPP)
5th International Symposium on Fusion Nuclear Technology - ISFNT-5
9th International Conference on Fusion Reactor Materials - ICFRM-9
18th IEEE/NPSS Symposium on Fusion Energy
18th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference
14th ANS Topical Meeting on Technology of Fusion Energy
ANS Winter Meeting
Letter from the Chair
Houlberg
Officers and Executive Committee List
Hogan
Treasurer's Report
Brereton
Fusion Technology Journal Needs Your Help!
Schultz
ANS 14th Topical Meeting on Technology of
Fusion Energy
Carmack
1999 Fusion Summer Study:
Opportunities and Directions in Fusion Energy
Science for the Next Decade
Mauel
Ongoing Fusion Research:
Najmabadi
Meier/Logan/Schultz
International Activities:
Roehrig
Dolan
List of Upcoming Conferences
El-Guebaly
Chair: Clement Wong (99-00) wongc@gav.gat.com
Vice-Chair: Kathryn McCarthy (99-00) KM3@inel.gov
Secretary/Treasurer: Sandra Brereton (99-00) brereton1@llnl.gov
James Blanchard (99-02) blanchard@engr.wisc.edu
Mohamed Bourham (98-01) bourham@ncsu.edu
Lee Cadwallader (99-02) lcc@inel.gov
Grant Logan (97-00) logan1@llnl.gov
Charles Martin (98-01) charlesm@dnfsb.gov
Stan Milora (98-01) milorasl@ornl.gov
Robert Santoro (97-00) rts@ornl.gov
Yasushi Seki (97-00) sekiy@naka.jaeri.go.jp
Scott Willms (99-02) willms@lanl.gov
Nominating Committee Wayne Houlberg
Honors/Awards Committee Gerald Kulcinski
Membership Committee Ken Schultz
.
Representative on ANS Publications Committees Ken Schultz
Representative on ANS National Program Committees Steve Herring
Representative on ANS Public Policy Committee Bill Hogan
.
Newsletter Editor Laila El-Guebaly
Editor Fusion Technology Journal George Miley
Web site maintenance Mark Tillack
.
Liaisons to other Organizations John Davis - MS&T
George Miley - IEEE
The projected balance at the end of 1999 is approximately $5,600.
Ongoing Fusion Research:
International Activites:
9-10 June Vienna, Austria International Fusion Research Council
21-23 June Kloster Seeon, Germany First Principle Based Transport Theory
19-21 July Lisbon, Portugal Control, Data Acquisition, and Remote Participation for
Fusion Research (co-sponsored by the IEA)
12-17 September Bordeaux, France Inertial Fusion Sciences & Applications (co-
sponsor)
27-29 September Culham, UK H-mode Physics & Transport Barriers
4-8 October Ooarai, Japan ECRH Physics & Technology for Fusion Devices
12-14 October Naka, Japan Energetic Particles in Magnetic Confinement Systems
(formerly called Alpha Particle Physics)
18-20 October Chengdu, China Research Using Small Fusion Devices
25-29 October Kyushu, Japan Steady State Operation of Magnetic Fusion Devices
December Vienna, Austria Applications of Plasma Physics and Fusion Technologies
The content of this newsletter represents the views of the authors and the FED
Executive Committee and does not constitute an official position of any U.S. governmental
department or international agency.