Agenda for the MFE Session
Preamble
IGNITORFIRE
ITER
Innovative Confinement Concepts

Sauthoff
Coppi
MeadeLackner
HooperMajor Conclusions of the Study
1. Why a burning plasma
2. Burning plasma options
3. Assessment of contributions of the options
4. Assessment of the feasibility of the options
5. Assessment of fusion development paths
6. Relation to the national program

NavratilBaker
Van Dam
TaylorTaylorPragerIdentifying MFE issues andassessing burning plasma experiments
FIRE

IGNITORITER

BP contributions
to ICCs

Physics
Argue for scientific and technologicalbenefits of approachesAssess benefitsof a tokamak
BPX to ICC path

Technology
Identify key scientific, technological, and path issues
Determine assessment criteria
Perform uniform assessments of approaches

ExperimentalApproachand Objectives

MFE Context for the Snowmass study“1. NOW is the time … to take the steps leading to the expeditious
construction of a burning plasma experiment.”
FESAC
BurningPlasma
Panel
9/2001“2. Funds for a burning plasma experiment should arise as an addition
to the base Fusion Energy Sciences budget.”“3. The U.S. Fusion Energy Sciences Program should establish aproactive U.S. plan on burning plasma experiments….”

MFE Context for the Snowmass study

FESAC
BurningPlasma
Panel
9/2001“Hold a “Snowmass” workshop in the summer 2002, for the criticalscientific and technological examination of proposed burning plasma
experimental designs and to provide crucial community input andendorsement to the planning activities undertaken by FESAC.”“Specifically, the workshop should determine which of the specificburning plasma options are technically viable but should not selectamong them.”“Request the Director of the Office of Energy Sciences to charge
FESAC with the mission of forming an “action” panel in Spring 2002,
to select among the technically viable burning plasma experimental
options.”“Initiate a review by a National Research Council panel in Spring
2002, with the goal of determining the desirability as well as thescientific and technological credibility of the burning plasma
experiment design by Fall 2003.”

MFE Context for the Snowmass study

FESAC
Burning
PlasmaPanel
9/2001

DOE
Snowmass
SummerStudy
7/2002FESAC
2/20029/2002

NAS /
NRC

OSTP
Congress

DOE/SC charge to the FESAC panel:• The next step in this process is for FESAC to establish a high-level panel thatwould use the results of the Summer Study to recommend a strategy forburning plasma experiments.
• This panel’s report should show how ITER would fit into the U.S. fusion
program, if it were to go forward with our participation.
• The panel should also indicate how a FIRE or Ignitor type of device would fit
in our program, if ITER were not to go forward [with the US].
• The panel’s proposed plan should provide flexibility for us to join ITER,
should the Administration decide to enter negotiations, and if we are able tonegotiate acceptable terms, and that allows us to decline to join if the terms
are not acceptable to both the community and the Administration.

MFE Preamble
Fusion energy shows great promise to contribute tosecuring the energy future of humanity.
The science which underlies this quest is at thefrontier of the physics of complex systems andprovides the basis for understanding the behaviorof high temperature plasmas.
Grounded in recent excellent progress, the world is
now at a major decision point: to go forward with
exploration of a burning plasma, opening up thepossibility of discoveries in a plasma dominatedby self-heating from fusion reactions.

MFE Preamble
This exciting next step to explore burning plasmas
is an essential element in the Fusion Energy
Science Program whose mission is to “Advance
plasma science, fusion science and fusion
technology—the knowledge base needed for an
economically and environmentally attractive
fusion energy source.”
The study of burning plasmas will be carried out aspart of a program that includes advancing
fundamental understanding of the underlying
physics and technology, theory andcomputational simulation, and optimization ofmagnetic confinement configurations.

MFE Preamble

The participants of the 2002 Fusion Summer
Study developed major conclusions
regarding the opportunities for explorationand discovery in the field of burning
plasmas.