FPN04-56

Dean Receives Senior Statesman Award

September 21, 2004

Fusion Power Associates president Steve Dean was presented the "Senior Statesman of the Fusion Program" Award at the American Nuclear Society 16th Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy, September 14-16 in Madison, Wisconsin. The award was presented by the conference General Chair, Prof. Gerald L. Kulcinski (University of Wisconsin) "on behalf of the Fusion Community."

The award to Dr. Dean states that it is "in recognition of his many contributions to the development of fusion energy, including:

stimulating the development of young scientists,
maintaining a focus on the end product of fusion,
keeping industry and utilities involved, and
providing a platform for policy discussions"

Dean presented an invited paper at the meeting, "Historical Perspective on the United States Fusion Program." He traced policy and progress over the approximately 55 year history of the U. S. fusion program. He said, "Fusion research has been underway for a little over fifty years. Some believe that commercial fusion power is still another fifty years away. Under present U. S. government policy, there is no timetable for fusion. However, if timely commitment is made to engineering development, admittedly not a likely scenario, fusion power could still be on the grid in a demonstration power plant far sooner."

Dean said, "Since 2000, the USDOE budget and policy for fusion has been inconsistent with the recommendations of its Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee, which recommended a program in which science and technology were in balance, as also were efforts on magnetic and inertial fusion energy." "Current policy needs to change to bring these program elements back into balance," he said.

Copies of Dean's paper are available on request from Fusion Power Associates (fusionpwrassoc@aol.com).

Dr. Dean holds a BS (Physics) from Boston College, a SM (Nuclear Engineering) from MIT, and a Ph.D. (Physics) from the University of Maryland. He worked 17 years for the U. S. government, as a research scientist at the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory and as a senior fusion program manager at the U. S. Department of Energy and its predecessor agencies. Upon leaving government in 1979, he co-founded Fusion Power Associates and has served as its president since that time. He has served on numerous government advisory committees, including the US-USSR Joint Fusion Power Coordinating Committee, the DOE Fusion Energy Advisory Committee and the Secretary of Energy Task Force on Strategic Energy Research and Development. He is a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society and a member of the American Physical Society. He is the recipient of several awards, including the Naval Research Laboratory's Research Publications Award and twice a recipient of the U.S. Department of Energy's Distinguished Associate Award.