FPN20-04

Two U.S. Fusion Meetings in Mid March

January 31, 2020

The U.S. Department of Energy Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC) will meet Monday-Tuesday, March 16-17 at the Hilton Rockville hotel at 1750 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852 USA. The primary purpose of the meeting is to receive the final report of the year-long U.S. fusion community planning process (see FPN20-02) and to launch a review of its own in accordance with a charge issued to them in November 2018. The charge letter can be found at https://science.osti.gov/fes/fesac. The agenda for the meeting will also (eventually) be posted there. Don Rej (LANL, retired) chairs the FESAC. The FESAC is expected to announce the formation of a subpanel to conduct the FESAC review. Troy Carter (UCLA), a member of FESAC, is expected to chair the subpanel.

A Public Forum on Fusion (nuclear) Regulation will be held on Wednesday March 18 at the same location as the March 16-17 FESAC meeting. The forum is jointly sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which regulates and licenses nuclear fission plants. A DOE official states "The overall objective of the Public Forum is to offer an opportunity for different entities, both domestic and international, to share their thoughts about this subject of nuclear regulation". A detailed agenda for the meeting is expected by mid-February but is not yet available. An official stated that there will be presentations and that "It is our expectation that the opportunity for public interaction will occur during various parts of the agenda."