DT reaction U.S. Burning Plasma Organization

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The Burning Issues:
U.S. Burning Plasma Organization e-News


April 19, 2006
from Ray Fonck, USBPO Director



1)    Topical Group Formation Status

We received over 70 suggestions for Topical Group coordinators in response to our first e-News and discussions within the community.  An initial list of Lead and Deputy Topical Group coordinators was compiled by the Directorate and presented to the USBPO Council for review.  Selection of the final group coordinators will reflect feedback from the Council.  We anticipate contacting the Topical Group coordinators during the next week, to confirm their interest in these roles and assist them in establishing their respective Topical Groups.

Thank you to all those in the community who provided suggestions and expressions of interest for Topical Group coordinators.  Your input was invaluable in identifying candidates for these positions, as well helping achieve a reasonable balance and diversity of the overall group.

To date, over 160 USBPO members have registered to participate in one or more of the Topical Groups (https://burningplasma.org/jointopical).  Thank-you for your show of interest!  
We have noticed that some people have registered multiple times for the same Topical Groups.  We recognize that the lack of a formal response may have made it appear that your registration wasn't received.  Please know that all registrations since the opening of the USBPO web site last year have been processed. However, no automated acknowledgment was sent in response to registrations submitted prior to mid-March, 2006.  We apologize for the confusion this may have caused.  There is no need to register multiple times for Topical Groups unless you wish to participate in a group that you had not previously joined.  You should expect to receive e-mail from the Topical Group leadership when they are ready to begin activity, which we expect to occur by the end of April or early May.

If you are uncertain about the status of your Topical Group registration, please send an e-mail to USBPO Communications Coordinator, Jim DeKock, at support@burningplasma.org.

2)    CODAC Task Group Formed

A BPO task group has been formed to assist with the conceptual design of the ITER Control, Data Access and Communications Systems (CODAC).

The ITER CODAC has not had formal attention since 1998.  In order to bring the design up to date in this critical area, Jo Lister, from the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, has been contracted by the ITER Team to prepare documents that define ITER CODAC requirements and outline a conceptual design for the system.  He is committed to complete the design and conduct a formal review within one year.  This is obviously a formidable job.  However, it is important to note that the task does not include any detailed design or implementation. These activities will be carried out later under contracts from the International ITER team.

To help with the conceptual design, Jo is building an extended international working group of scientists and engineers from the parties with expertise in particular areas of importance.  To coordinate activities, he has also formed a small advisory group consisting of Martin Greenwald, Jon Farthing, and Izuru Yonekawa.  In the U.S., official context is provided through a BPO task group.  So far, the group has 14 members, though more may be added as needed.  (Teams from Europe and Asia of comparable size are working with Lister as well.)  A list of the U.S. CODAC task group members can be found in the USBPO Bulletin Board area, which is described below.

A draft overview of the CODAC systems and design was released on April 12, 2006.  Members of the working group have begun reviewing this document.  To help accelerate discussion and revision of this draft, a workshop for the U.S. task group will be held at MIT on May 22-23, 2006.

3)    ICC-BP Discussion Forum

As discussed in the March 13, 2006 e-News, the USBPO is providing communications support to a group being formed to consider the technical connections between Burning Plasma research activities and Innovative Confinement Concepts.  To date, 27 people have registered (https://burningplasma.org/activities) for this ICC-BP group. The ICC-BP discussion forum can be found in the USBPO Bulletin Board area, which is described below. If you have questions regarding the ICC-BP Discussion Forum, please contact John Sarff at jssarff@wisc.edu.


4)    Communication Tools

Bulletin Boards - New Service Announcement

The USBPO is setting up several tools to assist its members with communications. This includes a Bulletin Board for reading information, submitting questions or comments, and responding to the posts of other members.  The Bulletin Board is open to members of the U.S. fusion research community who have registered for any USBPO Topical Group or in the ICC-BP Group.

To sign up for and thereby gain access to the USBPO Bulletin Board:
  • Go to https://burningplasma.org/forum.
  • Click on "Register" near the top of the page.  Your "Username" will be the e-mail address that you used for Topical or ICC-BP Group registration and your password is self-assigned.
  • When asked for your choice of "Display Name", please respond with your full name.
  • Registrations are manually reviewed, usually once per day, and an automated greeting is sent when your application is processed.

Information about Bulletin Boards:
  • The Bulletin Board is divided into categories such as: "Topical Groups", "Task Groups" and "USBPO".
  • Within each category are one or more forums, such as: "Diagnostics" and "Transport".
  • Inside each forum are the postings from USBPO members.
  • A "Topic" is started by any member who wishes to ask a question or issue a statement. Other members may reply and all responses are linked to the Topic. Members may optionally 'subscribe' to a Topic; the server will send an e-mail to the subscriber whenever a response is posted to a Topic of interest.
  • Files may be uploaded and attached to a post, which can then be downloaded by other members.
  • The Bulletin Board category, "USBPO", is intended to be a source for news and information about the USBPO and its website.
  • The category "Miscellaneous" is intended for use by the membership. It currently contains a "Lounge" forum for discussions of any topic, and an "Events" forum where members may advertise, promote, or discuss an event. New forums can be created upon request.

Please send questions regarding the Bulletin Board or any communication service to Jim DeKock at support@burningplasma.org.