American Nuclear Society Fusion Energy Division June 2008 Newsletter Letter from the Chairman Stoller List of Officers and Executive Committee Members Latkowski Treasurer’s Report Cadwallader 18th ANS Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy Latkowski/Meier Call for Nominations, ANS-FED Awards Morley Fusion Award Recipients El-Guebaly News from Fusion Science and Technology Journal Uckan Ongoing Fusion Research: Materials Challenges in the US Fusion Program Kurtz International Activities: ITER Update Sauthoff EVEDA, the New Phase of the IFMIF Project in the Broader Approach Garin Calendar of Upcoming Conferences on Fusion Technology Letter from the Chairman, Roger E. Stoller, Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN. In this my second (and final) note as FED Chairman, I hope to provide a brief update on Division and other fusion relevant business over the last six months. Additional details on Division elections and finances will be provided in articles by Jeff Latkowski and Lee Cadwallader below. First, I would like to thank the outgoing members of the FED Executive Committee for their service to the Division. They are: Neil Morley (UCLA), Paul Wilson (UW- Madison), and Minami Yoda (GT). Two specific action items from the November 2007 ANS meeting are the ANS Policy Statement on Fusion Energy (PS-12) and the new standardized bylaws for ANS professional divisions. PS-12 was revised and approved by letter ballot of the FED Executive Committee and then submitted to the ANS Public Policy Committee for their approval. A couple of modest wording changes requested by the PPC for clarification were made. The final version will be submitted to the ANS Board of Directors for approval in June. In November of last year, I received a copy of FED bylaws in a newly standardized format adopted by ANS. Discussion of FED-specific items in the standard format apparently preceded my tenure as Chairman. The primary thing I was asked to do was verify that the Division objectives had been accurately transferred to the new format. At the June ANS meeting, I will be delivering a presentation to the ANS Board of Directors on the status of the FED. 18th TOFE The 18th Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy will be held 28 September to 2 October, 2008, at the Stanford Court Hotel in San Francisco, CA. More information on TOFE is provided below by Latkowski/Meier (the General and Technical Program Chairmen for the meeting) and the meeting website: http://www.18th-tofe.com. News from FESAC I attended the 19-20 February meeting of the DOE Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC) as an ex-officio member. Raymond Fonck, Associate Director for the DOE Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES), provided an update of the current budget status for the Office’s programs, and Ray Orbach, the Undersecretary for Science discussed his view of the future for OFES. Congressional budget action featured prominently in both their presentations. In spite of initial optimism, budgets for the Office of Science have not seen significant growth. The decision to withhold funding for the FY08 US contribution to ITER was particularly troubling and surprising in the face of what was perceived as bi-partisan support. The “rolloff” from the US ITER spending profile had been expected to support new domestic facilities and capabilities to maintain US leadership in future years. This scenario may appear too optimistic at this point, although DOE and OFES remain strongly supportive of fusion. Based on the expected FY09 budget, OFES expects to initiate the Fusion Simulation Project, enhance the high energy density laboratory physics (HEDLP) program, and initiate a strategic planning exercise. As part of this last item, a new charge was issued to the FESAC to evaluate the scientific issues and opportunities associated with alternate fusion confinement concepts, specifically stellarators, spherical tori, reversed-field pinches, and compact tori (Field Reversed Configuration and spheromak). In addition, a subsequent charge letter was sent to FESAC regarding HEDLP. FESAC was charged to work with the HEDLP community to provide information to the Department that will form part of the basis for the development of a scientific roadmap for the HEDLP program during the coming decade. An HEDLP program that is jointly funded by the Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration is envisioned. Additional details on FESAC activities, including charge letters and presentations can be found at http://www.science.doe.gov/ofes/fesac.shtml. ITER Status Although ITER is an active international project, the budgetary issues mentioned above have impacted the US participation in the current fiscal year. In addition, the US has decided to minimize its financial commitment to participation in the development of ITER test blanket modules, while maintaining the option for future increased participation once the financial situation vis a vis ITER is clear. ITER itself is in the process of developing a new baseline design and budget. Negotiations are underway on the difficult issue of developing an international program management structure that is agreeable to all parties. Additional information on ITER is contained in this issue in an article by Ned Sauthoff, project manager of the US Contributions to ITER Project. List of Officers and Executive Committee Members, Jeff Latkowski, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA. The FED election was held in the spring of 2008, with voting being closed by April 8. Our FED Chair, Dr. Roger Stoller (ORNL), completes his term of office this month and Prof. Farrokh Najmabadi (UCSD) becomes FED Chair. Dr. Lance Snead was elected to the position of Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect. Lee Cadwallader (INL) continues his term as secretary/treasurer. The persons elected to three-year terms as FED committee seats are Arthur Nobile, Jr. (LANL), Wayne Reiersen (ORNL), and Alice Ying (UCLA). We thank the outgoing committee members Neil Morley (UCLA), Paul Wilson (UW- Madison), and Minami Yoda (Georgia Tech) for their service and look forward to working with the newly elected members. FED Officers: Farrokh Najmabadi (UCSD) Chair (08-09) [email protected] Lance Snead (ORNL) Vice Chair/Chair-elect (08-09) [email protected] Lee Cadwallader (INL) Secretary/Treasurer (07-09) [email protected] Executive Committee: Mark Anderson (UW) (06-09) [email protected] Pattrick Calderoni (INL) (07-10) [email protected] Brad Nelson (ORNL) (06-09) [email protected] Arthur Nobile, Jr. (LANL) (08-11) [email protected] Wayne Reiersen (ORNL) (08-11) [email protected] Mohamed Sawan (UW) (07-10) [email protected] John Sethian (NRL) (07-10) [email protected] Brian Wirth (UCB) (06-09) [email protected] Alice Ying (UCLA) (08-11) [email protected] Past Chair: Roger Stoller (ORNL) (08-09) [email protected] FED Standing Committee Chairs: Nominating: Roger Stoller (ORNL) Honors and Awards: Neil Morley (UCLA) - Chair Program Committee: Jake Blanchard (UW) - Chair FED Representatives on National Committees: ANS Publications: Ken Schultz (GA) ANS Public Policy: Said Abdel-Khalik (Georgia Tech) Editors: Newsletter: Laila El-Guebaly (UW), Dennis Bruggink (UW) Fusion Science and Technology Journal: Nermin Uckan (ORNL) Liaisons to other organizations and ANS divisions: ANS Board: Kathryn McCarthy (INL) MS&T: Ken Schultz (GA) IEEE: George Miley (UIUC) RPS: Ham Hunter (ORNL) Webmasters: Mark Tillack (UCSD) – FED website Dennis Bruggink (UW) – UW website Treasurer’s Report, Lee Cadwallader, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID. As of December 31, 2007, the Fusion Energy Division had a balance of $18,236. Expenses in 2007 included $350 to support a teacher education workshop at the 2007 ANS summer meeting (which was credited by ANS headquarters as a Landis Challenge II contribution), $150 in general nuclear student travel support to ANS national meetings, a $500 cash prize for the Best Student paper from the 17th TOFE held in November 2006, a $500 contribution to the Nuclear Engineering Education for the Disadvantaged (NEED) fund, a $500 contribution to the 2008 ANS Student Conference that was held at TAMU in March 2008, and $512 in telephone costs for conference calls during division meetings. Income in 2007 included $801 from the typical $1/division member allocation from ANS headquarters. As of March 31, 2008, the division balance is $19,846. Projected expenses in 2008 include $3,000 in student travel assistance to the 18th TOFE, $500 contribution to the upcoming 2009 ANS Student Conference, $150 in general nuclear student support for travel to ANS national meetings, $600 for telephone charges at two division meetings held during national ANS meetings, $500 contribution to the NEED fund, and up to $1,500 in cash prizes for up to three professional awards to be conferred at the 18th TOFE. Income in 2008 includes an increased member allocation from ANS HQ to $2/division member, for a total of $1,610. Income in the form of division profits from the 18th TOFE, to be held at the end of September 2008, will not be realized until 2009. 18th ANS Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy, Jeff Latkowski and Wayne Meier, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA. The 18th Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE) meeting will be held in San Francisco September 28-October 2, 2008. By all indications, we are headed for a very interesting and successful meeting. Abstract submissions were due April 1, and we received over 280 with more than half coming from international colleagues. As expected, many contributions are from those working on various aspects of ITER. Like past TOFE meetings, however, a broad range of other fusion related research will be covered, with significant contributions in the areas of first wall, blanket, and shielding; materials development and testing; next steps and power plants; safety; IFE related talks; divertor and high heat flux components; and alternate concepts.