FPN01-81

Ken Schultz Honored

November 23, 2001

Dr. Kenneth R. Schultz of General Atomics (GA) is the recipient of the 2001 Larry Foreman Award. The award was established by the Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) community in memory of Larry Foreman, who for many years led the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) ICF target fabrication effort. Foreman died in 1999, in the prime of his life and the peak of his career. The award recognizes someone in the inertial fusion target fabrication community who has shown the sort of dedication to quality and innovation in technique that Foreman personified during his career. Ken led GA's ICF Target Fabrication effort from its inception in 1990 until February 2001.

Nominations for the award may be made by any member of the target fabrication community. Selection is done by the 6 ICF Lab Target Managers and the award is given at the ICF Target Fabrication Meeting. The first recipient of the award in 1999 was Pete Gobby of LANL. Ken's award was made at the 14th Target Fabrication meeting July 18,2001 in West Point, New York.

The citation for the award noted that Ken was dedicated to providing high quality targets for the ICF Program and had established at GA a true Center of Excellence for Target Fabrication.The award consists of a walnut and brass plaque and a $1000 honorarium. Ken's name has been added to the perpetual plaque that hangs in GA's Target Fabrication Laboratory until the next Target Fabrication Meeting in 2003.

Ken received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University (1964), M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, (1965), and Ph.D.in Nuclear Engineering Sciences, University of Florida (1971). He is currently the Director of Operations for the Lasers and Inertial Fusion Divisions at General Atomics. Until February 2001, he was the Director of GA’s Inertial Fusion Technology Division, directing a staff of 45, including subcontractors, on DOE’s ICF Target Fabrication Project. That Division provides research, development, production, and characterization of ICF targets for the US ICF Laboratories and carries out technology research and development for inertial fusion energy.

Dr. Schultz was also the project manager for GA on the ARIES Tokamak Design Study, the DOE ICF Reactor Design Study, and GA's ITER Plasma Engineering Support task. He was the technical lead on the initial ITER First Wall/Divertor Design. He headed the TITAN Reversed Field Pinch Reactor Design, and Fusion Applications Study projects. He has served on several fusion technical policy panels including the Environment Safety and Economics Committee (ESECOM) and the Low Activation Materials Panel. Dr. Schultz previously led similar fusion engineering projects that include the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Small Reactor Design Studies, the Fusion Synfuel Reactor Design, a series of hybrid reactor studies, and the Blanket Comparison and Selection Study. He also directed GA's Blanket/Shield Thermal Experiments, and the design and construction of the Lithium Blanket Module for the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR).

Before transferring to the Fusion Group in 1975, Dr. Schultz was section leader in GA's High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) Core Design Department, responsible for the reactor physics design of the 2000 and 4000 MW(t) HTGR. From 1971 to 1973, he was a senior engineer in the HTGR Fuel Management Branch, performing fuel cycle physics and economics analyses of the commercial HTGR. Prior to joining GA, he worked on Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) core design at General Electric Nuclear Energy Division.

He is a member of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) and on its Board of Directors, chairs the Technical Journals Committee, and is a member of the ANS Fusion Science and Technology journal Editorial Advisory Committee, and Fusion Energy Division Executive Committee. He is a prior chairman of the ANS Fusion Energy Division and an Individual Affiliate of Fusion Power Associates.