FPN07-63

Academies Panel to Review U.S. ITER Plan

November 29, 2007

The U.S. National Academies was asked by the U.S. Congress in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to review a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) plan for U.S. fusion community participation in the ITER project. In response, the National Academies has established a committee of 10 plasma science and technology experts to review the plan and recommend next steps in the development of the plan. The panel is expected to take about 12 months to complete its review.

The committee to review the DOE plan, chaired by Dr.Patrick Colestock of Los Alamos National Laboratory, will have its first meeting on December 14-15, 2007 in the National Academies of Sciences Building Lecture Room, 2101 C Street NW in Washington, DC. The first day will be largely open session beginning at 10 AM and ending about 5:45 PM. All interested persons are invited to attend the open session on December 14. A picture ID will allow access to the building. Advance notification of plan to attend is desired but not required. Provide notification of plan to attend to David Lang DLang@nas.edu

The open session will include talks by DOE fusion head Ray Fonck on the plan itself, and by Kate Beers of OSTP on their "perspective." The international perspective will be provided by D. Campbell of the ITER Organization, J. Pamela of EFDA, and S. Matsuda of Japan Atomic Energy Agency. Ned Sauthoff, head of the U.S. ITER Domestic Agency will describe his activity, Jim Van Dam and Earl Marmar will describe the activities of the U. S. Burning Plasma Organization, and Stan Milora of ORNL will describe U.S. involvement in ITER technology research.

Further information can be found on the panel's web page at http://www7.nationalacademies.org/bpa/CRISPPP.html or contact David Lang, National Research Council, DLang@nas.edu