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* U N I V E R S I T Y F U S I O N A S S O C I A T I O N *
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* News and Information *
| December 15, 1998 |
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. INPUT REQUESTED FOR "NEXT STEP OPTIONS" STUDY

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1. INPUT REQUESTED FOR "NEXT STEP OPTIONS" STUDY
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On 13 November, 1998, Dr. Anne Davies, DOE/OFES, asked Dr.
Charles Baker, Director, Virtual Laboratory for Technology, to
organize a "Next Step Options" activity in order "to investigate
and assess various opportunities for advancing the scientific
understanding of fusion energy, with emphasis on plasma behavior at
high energy gain and for long duration. Examples of specific tasks
to be pursued are:

1) preparation of a common set of technical assumptions and
criteria for comparing design options;

2) assessment of implications of advanced physics on recent
fusion facility designs such as BPX;

3) assessment of existing design information through
interactions with projects such as KSTAR, Ignitor, JT-60 SU, JET
enhancements and as a reference, the reduced-cost ITER, and
determination of relevance of all of this information to Next
Step Options; and

4) exploratory design for a modular program pathway, with
initial emphasis on the burning plasma module. Such a modular
pathway is a topic under discussion by the ITER SWG and is also
considered within the 1998 Study on Possible Pathways for
Pursuing Burning Plasma Physics and Fusion Energy Development."

This work will be carried out through the Virtual Laboratory for
Technology and will take advantage of the US ITER experience. The
Director of the Virtual Laboratory for Technology, Charlie Baker,
is providing oversight for this activity, and the national VLT
Program Advisory Committee (PAC) is providing input to the VLT
Director on this study. DOE has charged the Virtual Laboratory to
"work with the community to develop specific recommendations,
including proposed institutional relationships." The NSO study
will "also work with the appropriate individuals in the community
to ensure that the results of this effort, including intermediate
products, will directly support the 1999 FESAC Review on Fusion
Energy Sciences priorities and the proposed "Snowmass Workshop"
(Summer, 1999) to discuss technical issues in fusion energy
sciences."

A relatively small management team has been formed to facilitate
this activity headed by a Study Leader, John Schmidt. Ned Sauthoff
and Dick Thome have agreed to serve as Physics and Engineering
managers for this activity. Dale Meade <mailto:dmeade@pppl.gov>
has taken the lead in advocating a mission and set of parameters
for the proposed project. Present thinking is focussed on copper
coil tokamaks with short to medium pulse lengths and fusion Q's of
about 10. However, the NSO team requests input from the fusion
science community on all aspects of the design choice and in
particular the physics requirements for the device.

If you would like to provide input please contact Ned, Dick or
myself as appropriate.

John Schmidt, <mailto:jschmidt@pppl.gov>
Ned Sauthoff, <mailto:sauthoff@pppl.gov>
Dick Thome, <mailto:thome@psfc.mit.edu>

The NSO leaders plan on organizing a workshop in February to
confirm the physics requirements. February 17-18 have been
suggested as possible dates for the workshop. Both January and
February are busy months, but they will strive to involve the
community throughout the process and will keep the fusion community
informed as they proceed.

The NSO team plan on utilizing a WEB site to communicate the status
of the machine parameters as input is received and our requirements
evolve. This site should be available by early January. UFA
members are encouraged to contact the NSO leaders and participate
in this important activity.

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Send comments/requests to

Mike Mauel mauel@columbia.edu
Dept. of Applied Physics 212-854-4455
Columbia University
New York, NY 10027
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