FES Update on StrategicPlanning
Edmund Synakowski
Associate Director, Office of ScienceFusion Energy Sciences
FESAC Meeting
March 12, 2015

For this talkMission
The mission of the Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) program is to expand the fundamental
understanding of matter at very high temperatures and densities and to build the scientificfoundations needed to develop a fusion energy source. This is accomplished by the studyof the plasma state and its interactions with its surroundings.

Discuss the present strategic planning status, andoutline the next steps for engaging the community
in further planning2We are advancing a high level strategic plan thatembraces our science, emphasizes its potential, anddescribes plans for further community engagement

Likely title: “The Office of Science’s Fusion Energy
Sciences Program: A 10-Year Perspective”
At a high level, it argues for the necessity of a broadresearch portfolio, both topically and institutionally
It embraces both research towards the energy goal aswell as plasma science for discovery

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While maintaining breadth, increases focus on areas ofhigh priority that the community has identified

Community input will be at the core of thereport, and will be an essential element ofcontinued planning

The plan will reflect emphases that you haveworked hard to identify and develop over the years
The report will represent a snapshot of an ongoingstrategic planning effort that will continue to seek
community input
It will build on U.S. strengths and will include policy
considerations of overall directions in science andenergy research
4The report will draw upon FESAC 2014, a history ofcommunity planning, and other broadconsiderations• FESAC 2014 (from last year’s planning activity) emphasized four primarythrusts: transients, plasma-materials interactions, computing, and a fusion
nuclear science subprogram and facility. Their roots are several highly
regarded studies performed with broad community input over the last
decade, studies that in aggregate identified gaps in the world fusion programand provided well-articulated opportunities for U.S. leadership.
• The Office of Science supports the four primary research thrusts of FESAC
2014, but with some qualifications• Our approach: distill what has the strongest pedigree from the FESAC 2014
report, consider community concerns, incorporate considerations including
policy, and move forward through further targeted community planning
activities. This includes a new series of Research Needs Workshops in most of
the priority areas identified in FESAC 2014.
5FES activities through 2014 andsince we last met in the fallThrough 2014, since the last FESAC meeting, activities and events include:• Briefed Congressional staff on the status of the plans for planning and how wewill receive the FESAC output and concerns. We described to them our plans tolaunch Research Needs Workshops to further inform our planning (October 17)• Described at a UFA Town Hall meeting at APS-DPP the planning status andcommented on community concerns and FES reaction to the FESAC report(October 27)• Congress reflected our plan for these Workshops in the enacted budget(December 10)• Hosted a dialogue with community leaders about these Workshops, to gettheir feedback and ideas (December 15)• Spoke at the Fusion Power Associates meeting about our plans (December 17)
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FES activities since the new year, 2015
• Invited chairs to lead Workshops in four areas and paired them withFES contacts in late December through mid January• Held a video conference with chairs and co-chairs to exchange ideas(January 30)• Held a Webinar about the FY 2016 Congressional Budget request. 100
connections; well over 100 participants (February 3)• Announced community-wide the workshop outlines and logistics in amass mailing (February 9)• Second meeting with chairs, co-chairs, and FES to be held March 197

The Workshops will update and inform FES inhigh priority areas

Topical areas• Plasma transients• Plasma-materials interactions• Integrated Simulations for Magnetic Fusion Energy Sciences(with ASCR)• Plasma Science Frontiers (2 workshops)

More discussion follows
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Major considerations for the DOE plan
• First, massively parallel computing with the goal of validated whole-fusiondevice modeling will enable a transformation in predictive power, which isrequired to minimize risk in future fusion energy development steps.
• Second, materials science as it relates to plasma and fusion sciences will
provide the scientific foundations for greatly improved plasma confinement
and heat exhaust for long pulse lengths.
• Third, research in the prediction and control of transient events that can bedeleterious to toroidal fusion plasma confinement will provide greater
confidence in machine designs with stable plasmas.
• Fourth, continued stewardship of discovery at the plasma science frontierthat is not expressly driven by the energy goal will address frontier plasma
science issues underpinning great mysteries of the visible universe.
• Fifth, FES facilities will be kept world-leading through robust operations andregular upgrades.
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Sharpening our understanding of researchneeds with community engagement workshops• The document under review fulfills a requirement, but it is but one step in amore complete process that requires broad community participation• FES is seeking further community engagement and input for planning througha series of technical workshops– Workshop on Integrated Simulations for Magnetic Fusion Energy Sciences– Workshop on Transients– Workshop on Plasma-Materials Interaction– Workshops (2) on Plasma Science Frontiers• The deliverable from each workshop will be a report, written by the membersof a community steering committee for the respective workshop, to discuss
the scientific challenges and opportunities for addressing these challenges• The workshops and deliverables will be discussed in more detail later today

Achievements in energy
research will be called out (1)Intention is to promote this in the Congressional report. Why ? Because the audience will
include many who do not know the field, or whose interest is just getting kindled. Examples:•Fusion-grade plasmas in experiments such as DIII-D and NSTX-U are routinely created that match theextraordinary conditions of fuel temperature required in a fusion reactor. In experiments on the TFTR at
PPPL the fusion power density achieved in the center of some DT plasmas exceeded reactor
requirements, and plasma self-heating from energy released in the fusion process was observed.

•Fine details determining the heat confinement of the fusing plasma state, including temperatures ofhundreds of millions of degrees Centigrade and fuel fluctuation levels smaller than 0.1% of the average
fuel density, are routinely measured with precision. Experimentation takes advantage of rapid analysis ofsuch measurements.

•Fusion scientists are leading contributors to the broad field of turbulence, complex dynamics, and selforganization. Advances regarding plasma turbulence have led to a revolution in the understanding offusion system containment properties and the likely characteristics of future experiments, including
ITER.

•Scientists are able to exert exquisite control of plasmas for fusion research as well as other applications.
This control includes active feedback between real-time measurements and heating and magnetic field
actuators that react within milliseconds to the early detection of potentially deleterious instabilities,
allowing their targeted suppression before fusion plasma performance is degraded.

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Achievements in energy
research will be called out (2)Examples for research towards energy (con’t)

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Precise magnetic field control in real time enables the safe directing of enormous heat
fluxes (many millions of watts per square meter) from fusion plasmas onto material
structures that are designed to endure this harsh environment.

•Fusion researchers led the nation in developing the first supercomputing applications
supported by DOE. Today, massively parallel computing is a signature feature of nearly
every major scientific enterprise, including fusion. At DOE-sponsored national
supercomputer centers, U.S. researchers carry out numerical simulations that
continue to push the state of the computational art. Present-day codes capture thedetails of the extreme and complex fusion plasma state, and its interactions with thematerials that surround it.

•Fusion scientists have been among leaders in materials science, identifying materials
that can endure the many atomic displacements that will occur in an eventual fusion
reactor, and understanding their properties with theoretical and computational
analyses.

Achievement in plasma frontiers
research will be described (1)Examples13•

Laboratory experiments and computational research are establishing the understanding of someof the most extraordinary phenomena in the visible universe, including the generation of solar
prominences and the formation of plasma jets that extend hundreds or even thousands of lightyears from a galactic core.

•Understanding the mystery of the surprisingly high temperature of the solar corona – over
1,000,000 degrees K measured 10,000 km above the Sun’s photosphere, while the Sun’s photosurface resides at a comparatively cool 4500 degrees K – has benefited from major discoveries inlaboratory experiments. These confirm that the process of magnetic reconnection can efficiently
convert the energy of the Sun’s tangled magnetic field into thermal energy of solar corona ions.

•Plasma environments that simulate the conditions on the surfaces of white dwarf stars thateventually become Type IA supernova have been generated on the Z machine at Sandia National
Laboratory, enabling detailed assessments of the intrinsic brightness of these stars. Astronomers
use Type-IA supernova as “standard candles” to evaluate intergalactic distances. This research
may improve the accuracy of our best “cosmic yardsticks,” enabling more precise determinationof the age of the universe than was previously possible.

Achievement in plasma frontiers
research will be described (2)Examples (continued)•Fundamental plasma physics principles have been applied to measurements obtained
by Voyager 1 and 2 missions of the solar wind near Pluto to set the internationallyaccepted upper bound on the mass of the photon at less than 10-51 grams, a dramatic
improvement over previous such estimates.

•

Computer codes used to understand fusion plasmas are being applied to theextraordinary conditions in the accretion disks of black holes, including research tounderstand the apparent deficit in luminosity of the accretion disk surrounding themassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy.

There are of course volumes more to call out.
Can you offer high level singular scientific achievements for us to consider?

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Burning plasma science is a leading
consideration framing the plan
Burning plasma science is the highest level goal of FES-sponsored research, and is best
underpinned with a broad research portfolio

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Broadly supported; judged ready: In 2002, a large community summer study involving
80 scientists, held in Snowmass, CO, assessed three options for burning plasma
facilities and indicated a preference the international ITER project.

•Following this, FESAC wrote A Burning Plasma Program Strategy to Advance Fusion
Energy. It noted “an overwhelming consensus that…we are now ready scientifically,and have the full technical capability, to embark on this step” (viz., experimental studyof a burning plasma).

•Important to all confinement concepts: A follow-up NRC study in 2008 provided A
Review of the DOE Plan for U.S. Fusion Community Participation in the ITER Program.
The DOE plan, itself a community report, emphasized the high value of the burning
plasma knowledge to be learned on a tokamak for any magnetic confinement
concept.

Research directions in the plan

Burning Plasma ScienceFoundations Focusing on domestic capabilities; major and university facilities
in partnership, targeting key scientific issues. Theory andcomputation focus on questions central to understanding theburning plasma stateLong Pulse

High Power

Challenge: Understand the fundamentals of transport, macrostability, wave-particle physics, plasma-wall interactions
Building on domestic capabilities and furthered by international
partnership
Challenge: Establish the basis for indefinitely maintaining theburning plasma state including: maintaining magnetic field structure
to enable burning plasma confinement and developing thematerials to endure and function in this environment
ITER is the keystone as it strives to integrate foundationalburning plasma science with the science and technology girding
long pulse, sustained operations.
Challenge: Establishing the scientific basis for attractive, robust
control of the self-heated, burning plasma state

Discovery Plasma SciencePlasma Science Frontiers and Measurement Innovation16

General plasma science, non-tokamak and non-stellarator magnetic
confinement, HEDLP, and diagnostics

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Research Direction:Foundations• Goal– This research category advances the validated predictive understanding of plasma
confinement, dynamics, and interactions with surrounding materials• Strategic implementation– In all funding scenarios, emphasis will be on upgraded DIII-D and NSTX-U working as acomplementary pair
– Research here will establish the scientific basis for research on superconducting longpulse overseas facilities already in operation or soon to operate– Partnership opportunities with the Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)
program in the Office of Science will be increasingly leveraged towards an integrated
whole-device modeling endeavor– Community workshops in 2015 will further inform and update research needs andopportunities in transients (experiment and computation) and in whole device
modelling17

Foundations – high importanceComputing and whole device modeling
Computing and whole device modeling needs to be an FES emphasis in the next decade
Community considerations include:•The opportunity and strong sense of urgency were conveyed in FESAC’s 2007 Priorities, Gaps andOpportunities report•In 2007, FESAC issued an assessment: FESAC Fusion Simulation Project Panel Final Report. The sameworkshop output was also assessed by the Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee (ASCAC).
This and other community activities affirm the readiness for making whole-device modeling an FESpriority•

Likely vehicle for strong ITER program impact

Additional considerations:•A drive towards exascale is one of the leading scientific priorities of the Administration. Building on theFES/ASCR partnership, opportunities for FES are significant•View of computation as a tool for discovery is widely held in the Administration, and is well suited for
the Office of Science•

FES needs to be more deeply engaged in computing to reduce development path risks for fusion energy.
Fusion researchers have been and need to be part of a transformation in computational science18

Foundations - high importance:
Transients, including disruptions
FES proposes to increase emphasis in transients research, including disruptions
Community considerations include:•In 2007, the FESAC report, Priorities, Gaps, and Opportunities: Towards a Long Range Strategic Plan for
Magnetic Fusion Energy, gaps related to disruptions and large-scale Edge Localized Modes in tokamaks
were judged to be among the most significant gaps for fusion energy development•

Widely voiced as a significant issue not only for ITER, but for any burning plasma concept based on atokamak•

3D physics of tokamaks and stellarators can inform each other in this area

Additional considerations:•19High leverage of resources: Disruptions and transients research captures a strong synergy between
experiments of different type, advanced measurements, and massively parallel computing

Research Direction:Long Pulse• Goal– This research category explores new and unique scientific regimes that can be achieved with longduration superconducting fusion confinement machines and addresses the development ofadvanced materials required to withstand the extreme conditions in a burning plasma environment• Strategic implementation– Lever mature U.S. research knowledge established in the Foundations area into collaborative
research activities carried out on overseas facilities that have long-pulse capability enabled bysuperconducting magnets– Combine research on materials effects on plasma confinement, high heat flux effects onmaterials, and neutron irradiation effects. The overall motivation is to gain entry into a new classof fusion materials science wherein the combined effects of fusion-relevant heat, particle, andneutron fluxes can be studied for the first time anywhere.
– Community workshops in 2015 will further inform and update research needs and opportunities infusion materials, and will promote a dialogue regarding PMI as it pertains to research on long pulse
linear devices and on confinement facilities

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Long pulse – high importance:
fusion materials
FES recognizes the importance of a robust program in materials science
Community considerations include:•In 2007, the FESAC report, Priorities, Gaps, and Opportunities: Towards a Long Range Strategic
Plan for Magnetic Fusion Energy, gaps related to materials science (nuclear, plasma materials
interactions, and their synergy) were judged to be among the most significant gaps for fusionenergy development•FESAC 2014; also FESAC’s “Opportunities for Fusion Materials Science and Technology Research
Now and in the ITER Era” (February 2012)•

Widely understood and expressed to be essential for any realistic embodiment of a fusion
reactorAdditional considerations:21•

The upcoming community Workshop will help update and clarify the research needs andopportunities pertaining to possible approaches•“Materials science for energy” and “Materials by design” are concepts frequently articulated andsupported within DOE and elsewhere.

•Leverage opportunities for FES are significant, underscoring potential high value for a given

Long pulse – increasing opportunities withinternational partnerships•

Many front-line research opportunities for U.S. researchers and students reside with our overseas fusionenergy sciences partners. International partnerships in fusion science research go back decades

Some overseas facilities are developing operational capabilities beyond those of any U.S. facility in somekey respects. GA has recently demonstrated remote control of the superconducting EAST tokamak inChina, applying advanced DIII-D operating scenarios New paradigm: scenarios developed here enable U.S. scientists to have high impact overseas••Stellarator research: unique, high impact possibilities. Highly relevant to one of the most important
topics in tokamaks, 3D physics, and the science of transients•

Value of high leverage partnerships expressed in FESAC’s report, “Opportunities and Modes ofInternational Collaboration During the ITER Era” (February 2012)•U.S. researchers could have significant impact in helping to set the research agendas for these emergent
programs by means of vigorous engagement in level of program planning and through a combination ofoff-site participation and on-site engagement.

•Also, the experience gained from U.S. research teams that are based overseas will be invaluable for U.S.
scientists who will be participants on future international ITER research operations teams.

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Research Direction:
Plasma Science Frontiers• Goal– This research area explores the fundamental properties and complex behavior of matter in theplasma state to improve the understanding required to control and manipulate plasmas for a broad
range of applications.

• Strategic implementation– FES will continue to maintain a leadership role in the national stewardship of discovery plasma
science– Leverage with partnering agencies will continue to be promoted– Community workshops will identify both the grand scientific challenges in the plasma science
frontier area and also the research needs required to address them. These workshops will be ofcritical importance, as this area has not yet had the benefit of a research needs analysis. This
portfolio shares many common intellectual threads with the potential for broadening connections
between the fusion energy sciences program and other scientific fields.

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We are advancing a high level strategic plan thatembraces our science, emphasizes its potential, anddescribes plans for further community engagement

At a high level, the upcoming report argues for the necessityof a broad research portfolio, both topically andinstitutionally
It embraces both research towards the energy goal as well as
plasma science for discovery
While maintaining breadth, increases focus on areas of highpriority that the community has identified
It will build on U.S. strengths and will include policy
considerations of overall directions in science and energy
research24

Thank you

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