Report from the Planning Workshop for the Fusion Energy Sciences Program

Abstract

Sixty representatives of the fusion community and the Department of Energy met October 22-24, 1996 in a workshop to chart the short and medium term future of the nation's fusion energy science program. The fusion scientists represented nearly all the institutions and scientific areas covered by the fusion program. Plans were crafted to implement the goals of the restructuring recommended last winter by the Fusion Energy Advisory Committee. The workshop refined the vision of the fusion program, articulated the accomplishments expected over the next 5 years, suggested changes in organizational methodology, reaffirmed the U.S. community's commitment to ITER and agreed to participate in the international collaborative process beyond the Engineering Design Activities toward construction, described future roles for the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory as a national laboratory, and produced the beginning of plans for education and outreach to the larger scientific community and public. Each of these items is discussed below: Taken as a whole, they represent a sea change for the U.S. fusion program. This change was embraced by the workshop attendees. It forms the basis for a fusion and plasma science program which will continue to reap far-reaching benefits to the nation in the near term, and progress toward a renewable and attractive energy source for mankind in the long term. It is expected that the new program will be enduring. It is based upon principles which will evolve, but not be overturned, as the nation's energy and science needs evolve.