* - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - *
|
|
* 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
|
|
* News and Information
| Nov. 2, 2000
|
* - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - *

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. BURNING PLASMA SCIENCE WORKSHOP ANNOUNCEMENT

2. DRAFT OF NRC FUSION SCIENCE ASSESSMENT RELEASED

// ---------------------------------------------------------------------- //
1. Burning Plasma Science Workshop Announcement Released
// ---------------------------------------------------------------------- //

As noted in the UFA e-News of 10/10/00, the UFA is sponsoring a workshop on
the Science of Burning Plasmas. The organizing committee has released a
formal announcement of this meeting. It is available in PDF file form at
the UFA web site: http://plasma.ep.wisc.edu/UFA/Download.html and is
reproduced in text form below. An information web page for this workshop
is being assembled and will be available soon at:
http://w3fusion.ph.utexas.edu/bpsworkshop/

-----
Workshop on Burning Plasma Science:
Exploring the Fusion Science Frontier

11-13 December 2000
Austin, Texas

Sponsored by the University Fusion Association

Stimulated by the growing interest in the science of burning plasmas
coming out of discussions at the 1999 Fusion Summer Study at Snowmass
and the recent charge [5 Oct. 2000] to FESAC by the DOE Office of
Science to "...address the scientific issues of burning plasma
physics," the University Fusion Association (UFA) is sponsoring a
Workshop on Burning Plasma Science, 11-13 December 2000, in Austin,
TX, to provide a forum for in-depth community discussion of the
critical scientific issues connected with burning plasmas. Based on
progress achieved at this December workshop (which focuses on
scientific issues), a follow-on workshop focusing on the technology
of burning plasmas will be held next year.

Purpose and Scope: The workshop is being organized by the UFA to be
one of the primary sources of community input to the assessments of
burning plasma science being carried out in the next year by FESAC
and the Virtual Laboratory for Technology Next Step Options Advisory
Committee. The emphasis of the workshop will be on burning plasma
science issues in tokamak configurations, but discussion of burning
plasma issues as they relate to other fusion concepts and more
broadly to scientific areas outside of fusion energy will be strongly
encouraged. Building on the progress made in discussing these issues
at Snowmass 1999 as summarized in the report of the Burning Plasma
Physics Working Group [ http://www.ap.columbia.edu/Smproceedings
or http://plasma.ep.wisc.edu/UFA/Download.html ], the
key questions which speakers and discussion leaders are asked to
address are:

1) What are the compelling scientific issues which could be
addressed by a burning plasma experimental facility?

2) Identify those burning plasma scientific issues which are
inaccessible for study in existing or near-term non-burning plasma
experiments.

3) What is the present physics basis and confidence level in
achieving burning plasma conditions? In particular, how have recent
developments in theory and experiment affected our confidence in
achieving burning plasma conditions?

4) How comprehensively can these burning plasma science issues
be addressed establishing a firm basis for extrapolation in scale and
magnetic configuration?

5) Are there compelling scientific issues outside of fusion
energy which can be addressed by a burning plasma experimental
facility?

The workshop will be organized to provide time for in-depth
discussion of proposed answers to these questions. A report
summarizing the range of views and degree of consensus reached will
be prepared.

Organizational Approach: A mix of plenary and breakout sessions will
be used (following the model developed at Snowmass), with parallel
breakout sessions held in four topic areas: (1) Energetic
Alpha-Particle Physics; (2) Self-Heating, Transport, and Confinement
at Reactor Scale; (3) Macrostability in a Self-Heated Burning Plasma;
and (4) Relation of Burning Plasma Science to Other Fields.

Place and Time of the Workshop: The workshop will be held in the
Applied Computational & Engineering Sciences (ACES) facility at the
University of Texas-Austin (SE corner of 24th and Speedway Streets)
from 8:30 AM to about 5:30 PM on Monday and Tuesday, December 11 and
12, and concluding at 1 PM on Wednesday, December 13.

Hotel Information: Blocks of hotel rooms are being held at the La
Quinta Hotel (512-476-1166 or 800-642-4239 mention Group Code:
907-45371 for $70 rate) and Doubletree Hotel (512-479-4000 or
800-222-8733 mention Group Code: BPS for $70 government rate or $99
reduced rate). These rooms are being held through November 30, so
please make your reservations as soon as possible.

Prospective Participants interested in making presentations in one of
the topic areas or of a more general nature addressing one or more of
the five key questions are encouraged to send a title and very brief
abstract of the proposed presentation by e-mail to the workshop
organizers listed below.

Organizing Committee:

Gerald Navratil, Columbia University, Chair navratil@columbia.edu
Amitava Bhattacharjee, Univ. of Iowa amitava-bhattacharjee@uiowa.edu
Ray Fonck, Univ. of Wisconsin fonck@engr.wisc.edu
Earl Marmar, MIT marmar@psfc.mit.edu
Raffi Nazikian, Princeton University rnazikian@pppl.gov
Jim Van Dam, University of Texas vandam@peaches.ph.utexas.edu
John Wesley, General Atomics wesley@gav.gat.com

// ---------------------------------------------------------------------- //
2. Draft Report of NRC Assessment of Fusion Energy Science Released
// ---------------------------------------------------------------------- //

The National Research Council has issued a prepublication draft of its
Assessment of DOE's Office of Fusion Energy Sciences Program. The report
can be viewed at http://fire.pppl.gov and is available on the UFA web site
at http://plasma.ep.wisc.edu/UFA/Download.html. Additional information on
the study can be found at the National Research Council Web site at:
http://www.nas.edu/bpa/projects/fusac/

// ---------------------------------------------------------------------- //
// ---------------------------------------------------------------------- //