[Home]
[Education]
[News]
[Links]
[Member Information]
[Download]
[Feedback]
[Announcements]
* - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - *
|
* 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 Jan 29, 2003
|
* - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - *
website: http://depts.washington.edu/ufa/home.html
CONTENTS:
1. UFA ORGANIZATIONAL NEWS
2. FUSION DAY ON MAR 12
3. FESAC DEVELOPMENT PATH PANEL MET JAN 13-16
4. NRC BURNING PLASMA ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE MET JAN 17-19
// ---------------------------------------------------------------------- //
1. UFA ORGANIZATIONAL NEWS
// ---------------------------------------------------------------------- //
The membership of the UFA Executive Committee starting 2003 is as follows:
Steve Knowlton Secretary-Treasurer
Mohamed Abdou
Amitava Bhattacharjee
Gerald Navratil Vice-President
Adil Hassam President
Cary Forest
Kenneth Gentle
Earl Marmar
Harold Weitzner
R. Paul Drake
David Ruzic
Earl Scime
George Tynan
Tom Jarboe is our outgoing President: we thank him for his fine service
these past two years. Steve Knowlton served the last two years as
Secretary-Treasurer. He, too, deserves our thanks. At its November
Meeting at APS the Exec Comm voted in Gerald Navratil as Vice-President of
UFA. Adil Hassam moved from VP to President starting Jan 2003. The Exec
Comm also voted in Steve Knowlton as Secretary-Treasurer for a continuing
term.
// ---------------------------------------------------------------------- //
2. FUSION DAY ON MAR 12
// ---------------------------------------------------------------------- //
This year's Washington Fusion Day will be on Wednesday, March 12th.
Starts with breakfast at 8:15am and includes an evening reception
for Members of Congress and staff.
Please make plans to attend. With the Snowmass, FESAC, and NRC Reports
and Interim Reports, this year is especially important.
Details on Fusion Day and the budget progress are in an attached email
from Mark Haynes, below.
// ---------------------------------------------------------------------- //
3. FESAC DEVELOPMENT PATH PANEL MET JAN 13-16
// ---------------------------------------------------------------------- //
The FESAC Development Path Panel met to continue deliberations on an
acclerated 35-year Plan for Fusion Power. A Preliminary Report was
submitted to Office of Science Director, Ray Orbach, in December 2002.
http://fire.pppl.gov/fesac_devpath_prelim_rpt.pdf
FESAC was charged by Director Ray Orbach "to develop a plan with the end
goal of the start of operation of a demonstration power plant in
approximately 35 years." In addition, "the report would be most helpful
if it could be done in two phases. Building as much as possible on
previous work of FESAC, the first phase would be a preliminary report,
completed by December 1, 2002, which would both provide a general plan to
achieve the aforementioned goal and identify those significant issues that
deserve immediate attention. As a second phase, I would like by March
2003, or earlier, a more detailed plan upon which budgeting exercises can
be based."
The FESAC Dev Path Panel, chaired by Rob Goldston, met at GA Jan 13-17,
for the second phase, to deliberate costs inherent in the 35 year Plan.
Presentations were made by representatives of the program elements of the
MFE and IFE programs. Some of these reports can be viewed at the FIRE
website.
http://fire.pppl.gov/fesac_dev_path_wksp.htm
// ---------------------------------------------------------------------- //
4. NRC BURNING PLASMA ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE MET JAN 17-19
// ---------------------------------------------------------------------- //
The NRC BPAC met in San Diego in its first meeting after submittal of an
Interim Report. The following presentations were made:
Comments Related to FESAC Burning Plasma Recommendations, Stewart Prager
Fusion Power - Industrial Perspective, Steve Dean
Fusion Development Path Panel Preliminary Report, Rob Goldston
Review of US Programs and Process, Michael Mauel
Future of Tokamak Facilities with a B P Experiment, Ron Stambaugh
"Multi-Machine" Strategy: The Other Path of the FESAC Burning Plasma
Strategy Gerald Navratil
Some of these are posted on the FIRE website:
http://fire.pppl.gov/nrc02.html
The NRC BPAC is charged to "carry out an assessment of a program of
burning plasma experiments and its role in magnetic fusion research."
The charge asks that an "interim report will address the importance of the
science and the readiness to undertake a burning plasma experiment. It
will provide interim advice to the Department of Energy regarding
reentering negotiations to be a participant in a multinational burning
plasma experiment (ITER)."
see full charge: http://www7.nationalacademies.org/bpa/projects_bpac.html
An Interim Report Letter has been submitted:
http://fire.pppl.gov/nrc02_int_rpt_122002.pdf
A paragraph, higlighted in the interim report letter, states:
"Subject to the conditions listed below, the committee recommends that the
United States enter ITER negotiations while the strategy for an expanded
U.S. fusion program is further defined and evaluated.
A strategically balanced fusion program, including meaningful U.S.
participation in ITER and a strong domestic fusion science program, must
be maintained, recognizing that this will eventually require a substantial
augmentation in fusion program funding in addition to the direct financial
commitment to ITER construction.
The fusion program strategy should include cost estimates and scenarios
for involvement in ITER, integration with the existing fusion science
program, contingency planning, and additional issues as raised in this
letter. The United States should pursue an appropriate level of
involvement in ITER, which at a minimum would guarantee access to all data
from ITER, the right to propose and carry out experiments, and a role in
producing the high-technology components of the facility, consistent with
the size of the U.S. contribution to the program."
=======================================================================
Adil Hassam
Professor of Physics 301 405 1417 (Voice)
Institute for Plasma Research 301 405 1678 (Fax)
University of Maryland www.glue.umd.edu/~hassam
College Park, Maryland 20742
Attachment
==========
>From haynes@ga.radix.net Thu Jan 23 14:04:07 2003
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2003 10:34:24 -0500
From: Mark Haynes
To: Recipient List Suppressed: ;
Subject: Fusion Update and Washington Fusion Day Set For March 12th
[ Part 1, Text/PLAIN 75 lines. ]
[ Unable to print this part. ]
This e-mail provides and update on Congressional action on the FY03
budget and discusses the upcoming March 12 Washington Fusion Day.
FISCAL YEAR 2003 BUDGET
Congress continues its work on FY03 appropriations bills for nearly all
of the non-defense federal agencies including the Department of Energy.
The center of action at present is in the Senate, where Republican
leaders are trying to push through a $390 billion omnibus spending bill
that incorporates 11 of the 13 regular FY03 appropriations bills
(including Energy and Water Development) which Congress did not pass last
year. The intent of Congressional Republicans has been to complete
action on the omnibus bill and send it to the President by next Tuesday's
State of the Union address. However, they may not make that deadline as
the Senate will not complete its action until at least this evening. The
House and Senate must then "conference" the omnibus bill and both Houses
must subsequently pass the conference agreement before it is sent to the
President.
The text of the Energy and Water portion of the omnibus bill is for all
practical purposes identical to the Senate's version that was passed last
year and hence, contains a total of $259 million for fusion energy
sciences. The "bad news" at this point is that several amendments (more
spending for education, drought relief, health care, etc.) to the omnibus
bill have been adopted by the Senate which have required small across the
board cuts to the overall bill. These cuts now total about 3.3%. Since
those cuts are supposed to come out of the whole fiscal year's funding
and since there will only be 6 or 7 months of fiscal year 03 remaining by
the time the bill becomes law, their net impact may be to reduce funding
for many programs by up to 7%. The final level of cuts adopted by the
House / Senate conferees plus the way a particular agency has managed its
spending for the past few months will determine their net impact.
MARCH 12 WASHINGTON FUSION DAY
Preparation has begun for this year's Washington Fusion Day on Wednesday,
March 12th. In addition to the traditional 8:15 a.m. breakfast with
Congressional staff (and maybe Members) and the subsequent day of visits
on the Hill, this year's Fusion Day will include an evening reception for
Members of Congress and staff in a House Science Committee hearing room
in the Rayburn Building.
Please make plans to come and participate as this day has proven itself
to be an effective way to inform Members and staff about fusion energy
research and about your particular research.
Although it may be a couple of weeks early to schedule your meetings, but
it certainly is not too early to be re-establishing your contacts with
your Congressional delegation through a quick call, letter or e-mail.
Early to mid-February would be a good time to begin setting up your
Fusion Day meetings with your delegation. As in the past, there will
also be several meetings that day which you may decide at the breakfast
to attend.
Expect more details in the near future.
Please contact any of us if you have questions or need help.
Kate Bannan (U of California) (202) 974-6311
Chris Carter (Princeton U.) (202) 639-8420
Suzy Glucksman (MIT) (202) 789-1828
Mark Haynes (GA) (202) 496-8209
Dobie McArthur (GA) (202) 496-8216
Elaine McCusker (U of Washington) (202) 624-1426
--
Mark Haynes
Vice President, Energy Development
Vice President, Washington Operations
General Atomics
2001 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Suite 650
Washington, DC 20006
202-496-8209
202-659-1110 (fax)