Fusion Energy Sciences
Perspective
James W. Van Dam
Associate Director
Office of Science
Fusion Energy Sciences

Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee Meeting
March 16, 2020
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1. Budget Updates

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Robust FY 2019 and FY 2020 enacted budgets
Enacted FES appropriations for FY 2019 ($564M) and FY 2020 ($671M) enable accelerated progress throughout the program:▪ U.S. Contributions to ITER: Testing of the first superconducting central solenoid magnet module was completed. Cash contributions wereallocated for FY 2019 and FY 2020. Fabrication of the remaining six modules and other U.S. in-kind hardware will continue in FY 2020.
▪ DIII-D: In FY 2019, DIII-D operated for 12 run weeks following completion of the Long Torus Opening. The world’s first toroidally steerable,off-axis neutral beam injector was installed on schedule and successfully operated. In FY 2020, during 20-run-week operation, DIII-D
research will utilize the new neutral beam and other heating and current drive systems to investigate steady-state plasma scenarios.
▪ NSTX-U: In FY 2019, the Recovery project successfully achieved SC approval of its baseline cost and schedule, and authorization of long-leadprocurements. In FY 2020, Recovery is making strong progress, including completion of all final design reviews and fabrication/testing of atleast four (of six) poloidal field replacement coils.
▪ Materials Plasma Exposure eXperiment (MPEX): This MIE project completed preliminary design and attained Critical Decision-1 approval in
FY 2020. Engineering design activities will continue, with preparation for baseline approval and long-lead procurements.
▪ Matter in Extreme Conditions (MEC): The Petawatt Upgrade achieved approval of its Mission Need (CD-0) in FY 2019. Engineering designactivities are continuing for the achievement of Critical Decision-1 approval .
▪ Quantum Information Science: FES made six awards with its first-ever solicitation in FY 2019 and issued another FOA in FY 2020.
▪ International collaborations: The portfolio was re-competed in FY 2019; ten multi-institutional awards were made for collaborative
research on long and short pulse tokamak facilities in Asia and the EU. Stellarator research in Germany and Japan continued.
▪ Private-public partnerships: In FY 2019, FES established the Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE) program and made twelveawards to six private companies. Another Request for Assistance was published in FY 2020, with expanded eligibility.
▪ Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning: FES held a workshop in FY 2019, jointly with ASCR, to identify priority research opportunities. A
follow-up solicitation has been issued in FY 2020 to competitively select awards in this area.
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FY 2021 Budget Request• The Administration’s Budget
Request to Congress for FY 2021
was released on February 10• It marks the first step in an
iterative process between theExecutive and Legislative branchesof the U.S. Government• The Budget Request for FES is$425,151,000, which is ~$246M
less than the FY 2020 enactedbudget• It includes $107M for the U.S.
Contributions to ITER project4

https://science.osti.gov/-/media/budget/pdf/sc-budget-request-to-congress/fy-2021/FY_2021_DOECongressional-Budget-justificatiom.pdf

2. Programmatic Updates

5Funding Opportunity Announcements & awards
Healthy budgets enabled multiple FOAs and awards across the program

Getting the word out on FOAs and Awards
https://www.energy.gov/science/office-science6Status of Funding Opportunity Announcements
Companion
Lab CallStatus

Collaborative NSTX-U Diagnostics

NoIssued; pre-apps received

Collaborative Research on International and Domestic Spherical Tokamaks

NoIssued; pre-apps received

High-Energy-Density Laboratory Plasma ScienceNoIssued; due 3/16 (now 4/6)

Scientific Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence for Fusion Energy
Sciences

Yes

Issued; LOIs due on 3/30

Measurement Innovations for Magnetic Fusion Systems

Yes

Issued; LOIs due on 3/20

Opportunities in Frontier Plasma ScienceYes

Issued; LOIs due on 4/6

Quantum Information Science Research for Fusion Energy SciencesYesSubmitted

Theoretical Research in Magnetic Fusion Energy ScienceNoIssued; LOIs due on 3/27

Early Career Research Program

YesIssued; due 3/16 (now 3/30)

Galvanizing Advances in Market-Aligned Fusion for an Overabundance ofWatts (ARPA-E / FES; led by ARPA-E)

N/A

Issued;Concept Papers due 3/27

FOA Title

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Check https://science.osti.gov/fes/Funding-Opportunities for updates

Enhanced inter-agency interactions• Advanced Research Projects Agency ̶ Energy– A joint FES and ARPA-E funding opportunity has
been announced focused on a range of enabling
technologies required for commerciallyattractive fusion energy– The program, called Galvanizing Advances inMarket-aligned fusion for an
Overabundance of Watts (GAMOW), willprioritize R&D particularly in:• All the required technologies and subsystems
between the fusion plasma and the balance of plant• Cost-effective, high-efficiency, high-duty-cycle drivertechnologies; and• Important cross-cutting areas such asnovel fusion materials and advanced and additive
manufacturing– GAMOW follows the ALPHA and BETHE
solicitations focused on fusion energy that were
issued by ARPA-E alone8DIII-D is pursuing several heating & current drive
upgrades to develop AT scenarios at higher density
Installed, commissioned,and demonstrated in 2019

Co/counter off-axis neutral beam

Top launch ECCD

Diagnostics ready for
exploitation in 2020

Helicon antenna

High-Field Side
Lower Hybrid

New diagnostics

HFS-LH installation
planned for FY 2021

Novel heliconantenna installed inFeb. 2020Feb. 2020: Novel helicon antenna has been
installed in DIII-D for efficient off-axis current drive
Comb-line antenna with 30 Modules

Heliconantenna withstriplines
exposedStriplines••••

Antenna installed during 2020 vent period
1 MW klystron successfully tested
476 MHz modulated RF system
RF diagnostics developed with DIII-D
university collaborators (ORNL, UCLA, MIT)

Full plasmafacing tileinstallation

ORNL shattered pellet injectors
for disruption mitigation
SPI on KSTAR:• SPI tested forfirst time indual-injection
configuration(exactlyoppositelocations)• Cryogenic D-Nepellets (28.5 mm
X 50 mm)

SPI on JET:••

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SPI tested on world’s largest tokamak (2019)
International collaboration between ITER Organization,EUROfusion, USDOE Fusion Energy Sciences, US ITER
Project Office, and ORNL, managed by UKAEA/Culham
Centre for Fusion Energy

Construction projects for
new world-leading facilities• FES has initiated a new Major Item of Equipment project
for a linear divertor simulator– CD-1 Approval of Alternate Selection and Cost Range wasobtained in January 2020
– The Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment (MPEX) willaddress need for expanded materials science capabilities– MPEX will be capable of producing fusion reactor-relevant
plasma conditions for materials & component-level exposures

MPEXOne Alternative: MEC Upgrade• FES is considering a Petawatt Laser Facility (PLF) project– Mission Need (CD-0) approval obtained in FY 2019
– Addresses a recommendation in the 2017 NAS report
Opportunities in Intense Ultrafast Lasers– PLF will study properties of matter in extreme conditions ofdensities and temperatures, relativistic plasmas, planetaryscience and laboratory astrophysics, plasma photonics andnonlinear optics, and strong field quantum electrodynamics
12Specimens and irradiation capsule

New Magnet Test Stand capability• Magnet Test Stand for highcritical-temperaturesuperconductor cable andmagnets• Jointly funded by FES andHigh Energy Physics• At Fermilab• LBNL will be designing andfabricating a large
superconducting dipole
magnet (15 T) to be used inthe Magnet Test Stand
Right: Dr. James Siegrist (AD for HEP program)
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FES high-performance computing efforts▪ The nine multi-institutional projects in theFES SciDAC portfolio continue to makeprogress toward integration and WholeDevice Modelingo More details can be found at:https://scidac.gov/partnerships/fusion_energy.html▪ The PPPL-led WDMApp project in the SCExascale Computing Project (ECP) portfolio
is making good progress toward thecoupling of edge and core tokamak regions
using continuum and particle codes▪ The JA-US collaboration on Exascale forfusion continues▪ US scientists are prepared for the first
Exascale computing systems ~2021(Frontier at ORNL and Aurora at ANL)14

FRONTIER Exascale Computer @ ORNL
Coming in 2021

Edge turbulence from XGC that enhances theparticle loss while confining the electron heatin the DIII-D tokamak.

AURORA Exascale Computer @ ANL
Coming in 2021

NSF/DOE Partnership:
Over $7 million funded by DOE in 2019
NSF/DOE Partnership includes:✓ General Plasma Science✓ Exploratory Magnetized Plasmas✓ and HEDLPFY 2019 FES contribution$7.0 M• FES provided $7.0 million FY 2019 funds for thePartnership, supporting 11 new and 3 supplemental
proposals in basic plasma, non-neutral/dusty plasma,
HED plasma, and low-temperature plasma• This includes $2.7 million for Basic Plasma Science
Facility’s (BaPSF) continuing operation andcollaborative research at UCLA

$7.7M annual average for the last 5 years
BaPSF15

https://www.lasernetus.org/• LaserNetUS website is managed by SLAC for the consortium• It has information for users about facility capabilities andproposal submission process
16• Advanced Laser Light Source (Quebec) joined LaserNetUSINFUSE private-public partnership program•••
First 2020 Request for Assistance Call was issued in February

The first INFUSE workshop was held
November 22-23, in Knoxville, TN•••

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Attendees included the Point-ofContacts from the 10 participating labs
(BNL, INL, LANL, LBNL, LLNL, ORNL,PNNL, PPPL, SNL, and SRNL);
representatives from nine private
fusion companies, ARPA-E, and theFusion Industry Association; and DOEFES staff••
INFUSE workshop

The Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE)
program for fusion R&D was announced in June, 2019
INFUSE accepts research applications focused on
innovation for fusion energy in enabling technologies,
materials science, plasma diagnostics, modeling &simulation, and MFE experimental capabilities
Awards are made to DOE national labs to help eligible
private-sector companies overcome critical scientific andtechnological challenges in pursuing fusion energy
In FY 2019, twelve awards were made to six privatecompanies partnering with six DOE labs
Awards are listed in: https://infuse.ornl.gov/2019-infuseawards-2/
In FY 2020, INFUSE expands eligibility to foreigncompanies whose participation is beneficial to the U.S.,
raises the funding level and duration of awards, andrelaxes limits on number of proposals per topical area
More information here: https://infuse.ornl.gov/

3. ITER Updates

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Progress of U.S. ITER project:
Subproject-1 (First Plasma) is 63% complete
Hardware appropriations: ~ $1.45 B(through FY 2019)>80% of fabrication awards for U.S. ITER project remain inthe U.S.
• 600+ contracts to U.S. industry, universities, and national
laboratories in 44 states• 500+ direct jobs, 1100+ indirect jobs per year

New US ITER Project Director: Kathryn McCarthy
Effective: March 2, 2020
Recent Experience:
Canadian Nuclear Laboratories• Vice President for Science and Technology and Laboratory Director [oversaw staff of 650]
Idaho National Laboratory• Director of domestic programs in INL’s Nuclear Science and Technology Directorate• Director of the Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program Technical Integration Office• National Technical Director for the Systems Analysis Campaign for DOE Nuclear Energy’s
Fuel Cycle R&D Program

Background:• Ph.D. in nuclear engineering (UCLA) with a major field of fusion engineering and minor
fields of nuclear science and engineering and physics• National Academy of Engineering inductee• Awarded two American Nuclear Society presidential citations• FESAC member 1999-2013• US ITER technical advisory committee member 2010-2013
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Dr. Kathy McCarthy

Examples of U.S. hardware for ITER
Tokamak Cooling Water System
40 km of piping in the Tokomak Cooling Water Systemand nearly all of it is manufactured in the U.S.

The Tokomak Cooling Water System will have totalheat removal capacity = 1,000 MW (thermal)

US tests first central solenoid module
The first production central solenoid module iscurrently being tested in the United States bycontractor General Atomics. It will be delivered tothe ITER site during FY 2020. Fabrication of each
module requires multiple fabrication steps spreadout over 24 months.
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ITER civil construction is nearly complete
and assembly phase has begun

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Fully contained

Cryostat base: grand opening soon

The volume of the crane hall (right) is now fully framedout. When the interior partition wall is removed, thebuildings will form one continuous assembly space.
26 FEBRUARY 2020

The huge cryostat base section will descend from above,
supported by the overhead cranes as it is lowered 30
meters to the bottom of the pit.
13 FEBRUARY 2020

4. Program Planning

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FES strategic choices are informed by communityand Advisory Committee input

2015 Community Workshops:
Integrated Simulations, Transients, Plasma Materials
Interactions, & Plasma Science Frontiers
242015 Applications of Fusion
Energy Sciences Research2015 FES 10-year
Perspective

2016 FES Exascale
Requirements

2019 Report on Advancing
Fusion with Machine Learning2018 FESAC Transformative
Enabling Capabilities

2017 FES NAS Report onIntense Ultrafast Lasers

2018 FES
Roundtable on QIS

2020 Report on AI for Science(DOE Town Halls)

CPP process concluded with a substantive reportThank you!

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National Academies Plasma 2020
Decadal Assessment of Plasma Science2010 Plasma Decadal Survey(Chair: Prof. Steve Cowley)

Chairs: Prof. Mark Kushner & Prof. Gary Zank
• Objective: Conduct a study of the past progress and future
promise of plasma science and technology and provide
recommendations to balance the objectives of the field in asustainable and healthy manner over the long term• Multiple federal sponsors: DOE (FES, HEP, NNSA, ARPA-E);
NSF; DOD (AFOSR, ONR)
• Current status:• Draft report was sent to the reviewers in late February• Committee will address reviewer input under anaccelerated schedule• Release of final report to federal sponsors is targeted for
mid-AprilFusion regulatory framework• Congress has expressed its interest on understanding the regulatory approachfor Advanced Nuclear Reactors, including nuclear fusion reactors– Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act, S.512 (January 2018)– Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act of 2017, S.97 (January 2018)• Early in 2019, FES along with ARPA-E formed an informal working group with
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to exchange information• DOE and NRC senior management are aware of this activity and have been
involved in planning future engagements• The one-day DOE-NRC Public Forum on fusion regulation planned for thisweek will be rescheduled27

5. People28

DOE leadership update

Dan Brouillette sworn in as the 15th Secretary ofEnergy, U.S. Department of Energy, on December 11,2019• Served as USDOE Deputy Secretary of Energy sinceAugust 2017
• Previous experience:➢ Senior Vice President and head of public policy for
U.S. Automobile Association (USAA)➢ Vice President of Ford Motor Company➢ Chief of Staff to the U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Energy and Commerce29

2019 Nuclear Fusion Award• Dr. Nathan Howard (MIT) received the 2019
Nuclear Fusion award for the paper “Multi-scale
gyrokinetic simulation of tokamak plasmas:
Enhanced heat loss due to cross-scale coupling ofplasma turbulence” [Nuclear Fusion (2016)]– Co-authors were C. Holland, A. E. White, M.
Greenwald, and J. Candy• This paper presents novel gyrokinetic simulations
that capture ion and electron-scale turbulencesimultaneously.
– The simulations reveal mechanisms explaining
electron heat losses in the core of fusion plasmas.
– The paper compared cutting-edge simulation
results to experimental findings, providing
convincing physical explanations for observed
anomalous heat losses.

• The award will be presented at the IAEA Fusion
Energy Conference, to be held in Nice, France inOctober 2020.
30Dr. Nathan Howard (PSFC/MIT)Spitzer Space Telescope• The infrared Spitzer Space Telescope,
named after Prof. Lyman Spitzer, Jr.
(founder of PPPL) and considered one ofNASA’s four “great observatories” (withHubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-Ray
Observatory, and Compton Gamma-Ray
Observatory), was switched off onJanuary 31 after 16 years of operation.
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