Announcement for community workshop on

Strategic directions for U.S. magnetic fusion researchWorkshop 2: December 11-15, 2017 in Austin, TX
I. Overview
This document is an announcement for the 2nd workshop in a series of magnetic fusion
community workshops to enable community presentation and discussion focused on the recent
charge to the National Academies of Sciences (NAS), Engineering, and Medicine(http://sites.nationalacademies.org/BPA/BPA_177107). The goal of this series of workshops is to foster
community discussion and consensus-building
Things to Do Soon:
toward a compelling strategic plan for the U.S.
1) Propose additional working
magnetic fusion research program. Information onst
groups for improving thethe 1 workshop in this series can be found ateffectiveness and outcome ofhttps://sites.google.com/site/usmfrstrategicdirections/
the Austin workshop by Oct. 4,workshop01_madison.
2017. See Section II.

The 2nd workshop will be held in Austin, TX on Dec.
2) Make hotel reservations at the11-15, 2017. The purpose and timing of thisOmni Hotel. See Section III.
workshop within the overall process is described inSection II below. In this context, the primary goal of the Austin workshop will be to discuss,debate, and develop critical information required for the timely development of a strategic plan
including program mission and goals, and the importance of various strategic program elements
needed to achieve those goals.
This is in preparation for providing the NAS panel input on the second charge for their final
report due in the fall of 2018.
In two separate scenarios in which, after 2018, (1) the United States is a partner in ITER,
and (2) the United States is not a partner in ITER: provide guidance on a long-term
strategic plan (covering the next several decades) for a national program of burning
plasma science and technology research which includes supporting capabilities andwhich may include participation in international activities, given the U.S. strategicinterest in realizing economical fusion energy in the long term.
The information produced by this workshop will provide the basis for developing acomprehensive strategic plan that blends the attractive elements of the proposed strategic
approaches. A key consideration of this comprehensive strategic plan will be the specific note inthe NAS charge that the panel should assume that economical fusion energy within the next
several decades is a U.S. strategic interest.
II. Anticipated Process for Developing a Community-Sponsored Strategic Plan
Because of the short timetable for providing strategic planning information to the NAS, theprogram committee has developed the following approach to streamline discussion anddevelopment of a community-sponsored strategic plan:

Working groups will be convened prior to the Austin workshop. These working groups willdevelop information on key issues relevant and urgent for the formation of a U.S. fusion researchstrategic plan. The working groups will present their findings at the Austin workshop withbreakout sessions held subsequent to these presentations to get community feedback on theworking group findings. The information produced by this 2nd workshop will then provide thebasis for developing a comprehensive strategic plan that blends the attractive elements of theproposed strategic approaches (see working group topics below) and program elements that
achieved a sufficient level of consensus at the Austin workshop.
The program committee recognizes that developing a strategic plan of this scope and mission
will be difficult to achieve in large-group settings on the NAS final report timetable. Provided
that the 2nd workshop is successful in developing the necessary background information fordevelopment of a strategic plan, the program committee is tentatively planning to establish asmall working group to develop a draft strategic plan (or plan options) to be considered at a 3rdcommunity workshop to be held in the spring of 2018. It is envisioned that this post-Austin
working group will seek input from the community on specific strategic plans (or parts of plans)that they should consider. Once prepared, the strategic plan will be made available to thecommunity and then discussed, debated, and refined at the 3rd / spring workshop. The programcommittee will solicit input from the community at the upcoming APS-DPP meeting as to theappropriateness of this approach and timeline.
The timeline for this working group is consistent with a goal of developing and presenting acommunity-supported strategic plan to NAS in sufficient time for inclusion in their final report.
However, sufficient consensus on a community-based strategic plan is essential to the long-term
support and viability of the plan. If sufficient consensus cannot be achieved, several strategicplan options will be presented to NAS and additional/future strategic planning activities will beheld to converge toward a single strategic plan.
Critical to the success of the strategic planning working group will be incorporation ofcommunity views and critical assessments on several topics that provide essential contextual
information for the development of a strategic plan. Community working groups will be
convened in the coming weeks to develop information on these topics for discussion at theAustin workshop. These topics currently include:• Principles, metrics, and criteria for assessing the strategic plan
• Technical and programmatic impact of U.S. access to ITER
• Market attractiveness of fusion energy – what should US fusion be striving to deliver• Opportunities for the U.S. to benefit from strategic international partnerships• Gap analysis, strategic objectives, risks, and roadmap for strategic approaches identified by
the program committee for delivering fusion energy in the next several decades• Other community suggested working group ideas
A follow-on announcement will further clarify the working groups currently in preparation as
well as define membership and participation opportunities in these working groups.
Call for Additional Working Group Suggestions: The program committee also invites thecommunity to make further suggestions on working groups that they believe would be beneficial
in improving the effectiveness and outcome of the Austin workshop, including specific strategic

approaches that should be considered. Ideas should be submitted to Mickey Wade(wade@fusion.gat.com) by October 13, 2017 for consideration.
III. Workshop Logistics
Website: The workshop website is: https://sites.google.com/site/usmfrstrategicdirections andalso here: www.usmfrsd.org
If you have any questions or comments, please contact the meeting co-chairs: David Maurer, JonMenard, and Mickey Wade: maurer@physics.auburn.edu, jmenard@pppl.gov, andwade@fusion.gat.com
Agenda: The workshop agenda will consists of presentation and discussion of the findings ofthe various working groups in the mornings and breakout discussions of these topics in theafternoon. As appropriate, the program committee will include additional presentations/topics
important to the strategic planning process. An approximate (and very subject to change) dayby-day outline of the agenda follows based on the current set of working groups:• Monday AM: Workshop scope/mission; Principles/Metrics/Criteria; Fusion Attractiveness• Monday PM: Breakout Discussion on Principles/Metris/Criteria + Fusion Attractiveness• Tuesday AM: Impact of Access to ITER; International Partnerships; Community-suggestedworking group(s)• Tuesday PM: Breakout Discussion on Access to ITER + International Partnerships +Community-suggested working group(s)• Wednesday AM: Interim Report of Breakout Discussions; Strategic Approaches #1 & #2
• Wednesday PM: Breakout Discussion on Strategic Approach #1; Strategic Approach #2• Thursday AM: Strategic Approach #3; Strategic Approach #4• Thursday PM: Breakout Discussion on Strategic Approach #3 + Strategic Approach #4• Friday AM: Summary Reports of Breakout Discussions; Workshop Summary; Path Forward
Hotel Registration: A block of rooms has been reserved at the Omni Hotel in Downtown
Austin at a reasonable cost ($146 government rate, $165 others). As this room block hasenabled the organizers to secure the meeting rooms necessary for the workshop at minimal costs,
we strongly encourage participants to stay at Omni Hotel. A website has specifically been set up
to expedite your reservation into this room block at https://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/austindowntown/meetings/fusion-community-strategic-planning-meeting.
Conference Registration: It is expected a registration fee of $150 will be charged to cover thecosts for meeting space and logistical support in Austin. Once the registration web site isavailable, a separate e-mail will be sent out with information on registering for the workshop.
IV. Travel Funding and Conference Registration
These workshops are community-led and not directly sponsored by FES. However, FES hasindicated that workshop participants funded by grants, cooperative agreements, and national labs
have the discretion to use available funding to travel to the workshops provided that theworkshop is related to ongoing work and no contract deliverables are jeopardized by the travel.
Workshop attendance should be treated as analogous to attending an annual APS-DPP meeting.

V. Program Committee

Name

Affiliation

E-mail Address
Workshop Co-chairs

David Maurer

Auburn University

maurer@physics.auburn.edu

Jonathan Menard

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratoryjmenard@pppl.gov

Mickey Wade

General Atomics

wade@fusion.gat.com

Program Committee Members
Jean Paul Allain

University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign

allain@illinois.edu

Larry Baylor

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

baylorlr@ornl.gov

John CanikOak Ridge National Laboratory

canikjm@ornl.gov

Troy Carter

University of California - Los Angeles

tcarter@physics.ucla.edu

Cami Collins

General Atomics

collinscs@fusion.gat.com

Fatima Ebrahimi

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

febrahim@pppl.gov

David Gates

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

dgates@pppl.gov

Martin Greenwald

Massachusetts Institute of Technologyg@psfc.mit.edu

David Hatch

University of Texas - Austin

drhatch@austin.utexas.edu

Nathan Howard

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

nthoward@psfc.mit.edu

Scott Hsu

Los Alamos National Laboratory

scotthsu@lanl.gov

Ilon Joseph

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

joseph5@llnl.gov

Charles Kessel

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

ckessel@pppl.gov

Deyong Liu

University of California - Irvine

deyongl@uci.edu

Saskia Mordijck

The College of William and Marysmordijck@wm.edu

Tobin Munsat

University of Colorado - Boulder

tobin.munsat@colorado.edu

Gerald Navratil

Columbia University

gan2@columbia.edu

David Newman

University of Alaska - Fairbanks

denewman@alaska.edu

John Sarff

University of Wisconsin - Madison

jssarff@wisc.edu

Oliver Schmitz

University of Wisconsin - Madisonoschmitz@wisc.edu

Uri Shumlak

University of Washington

shumlak@uw.edu

Wayne Solomon

General Atomics

solomon@fusion.gat.com

Mark Tillack

University of California - San Diegomstillack@gmail.com

Francesca Turco

Columbia University

ft2215@columbia.edu

Francois Waelbroeck

University of Texas - Austin

flw@mail.utexas.edu

Steven Zinkle

University of Tennessee - Knoxvilleszinkle@utk.edu