FPN20-18
US FESAC Launches Strategic Planning Study
March 17, 2020
The US Department of Energy Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee
(FESAC) held a virtual meeting March 16 via Zoom to receive the report
of the year-long-plus US fusion community planning effort
(https://sites.google.com/pppl.gov/dpp-cpp),
to launch its own review
of that report, and to prepare a "long range strategic plan" for the US
fusion energy program. FESAC chair Don Rej appointed a subpanel of FESAC
chaired by FESAC member Troy Carter (UCLA) to prepare that plan and to
deliver a report back to FESAC in December.
During the March 16 Zoom meeting, Troy Carter stated that the charge for
the preparation of the strategic plan was as follows:
- Identify specific research areas, in which the U.S. should establish or enhance global leadership
- Maintain a healthy and flexible program, which incorporates the roles and contributions of universities, national laboratories, and industry, to deliver science results through next decade
- Maintain, upgrade, and/or pivot current small-, mid-, and large-scale facilities, including DIII-D and NSTX-U, and also initiate new experiments/facilities/projects
- Identify international collaborations and partnerships giving U.S. scientists access to devices with unique capabilities
- Provide support for private-public partnership ventures
- Position U.S. to obtain maximum benefits in ITER burning plasma science era
- Considering budgetary constraints, technical readiness and feasibility for any activity to proceed:
Using FY 2019 enacted budgets, assume:
- Constant level of effort(defined as the published OMB inflators for FY 2022-2031)
- Modest growth (use 2 percent above the published OMB inflators)
- Unconstrained budget
Members of the FESAC subcommittee are:
Professor Scott Baalrud University of Iowa
Professor Riccardo Betti University of Rochester
Professor Troy Carter (Chair) University of California, Los Angeles
Dr. John Cary Tech-X Corporation
Dr. Tyler Ellis Commonwealth Fusion Systems
Professor John Foster University of Michigan
Dr. Cameron Geddes Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Dr. Arianna Gleason SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Dr. Chris Holland University of California San Diego
Dr. Paul Humrickhouse Idaho National Laboratory
Dr. Chuck Kessel Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Dr. Ane Lasa University of Tennessee
Dr. Tammy Ma Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Dr. Rajesh Maingi Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Professor David Schaffner Bryn Mawr College
Professor Oliver Schmitz University of Wisconsin
Professor Uri Shumlak University of Washington
Professor Lance Snead Stony Brook University
Dr. Wayne Solomon General Atomics
Dr. Erik Trask TAE Technologies, Inc.
Professor Francois Waelbroeck University of Texas at Austin
Professor Anne White Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dr. Donald Rej# Los Alamos National Laboratory
# Ex officio (FESAC Chair)
More detail of the FESAC meeting is posted at
http://firefusionpower.org/