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

July 24, 2006
from Ray Fonck, USBPO Director

CONTENTS:

1. USBPO Research Committee news
2. Topical Group activities start
3. EPAct Task Group finishes task
4. The Topical Group Bulletin Boards reminder

1) Research Committee news

The Research Committee has started routine operations in its function as the technical management body of the USBPO.

The Research Committee is comprised of the Topical Group Leaders, the Directors of the USBPO, and an OFES representative. Tony Taylor, the USBPO Deputy Director, chairs it. The Topical Group leaders and members of the Directorate are listed on the USBPO web site at http://burningplasma.org/groups.html and http://burningplasma.org/directorate.html.

Some roles of the Research Committee are to:
1) Define, lead and coordinate execution of USBPO research tasks and responsibilities
2) Identify/coordinate resources needed to execute research tasks
3) Recruit relevant participants from the community
4) Coordinate/clarify how the groups interact with the fusion research community

a. Insure appropriate coordination and cooperation with other community organizations

5) Coordinate outreach activities to the community
6) Support interactions with USIPO, ITPA, and ITER central team

The Research Committee meets as a whole via videoconference every 2 weeks to coordinate USBPO activities. Its focus in its first few months of operation has been establishing itself as a functioning organization and addressing the issue of identifying initial research activities for the Topical Groups.

2) USBPO Topical Groups start activities

The USBPO Topical Groups have started operations. These groups comprise the technical working groups of the USBPO.

The Topical Groups are identifying burning plasma research topics to pursue under the USBPO. Their initial focus has been developing suggestions for possible ITER Physics Tasks for the US research community.

To find out more about any Topical Group, please check the related USBPO Bulletin Board discussion at https://burningplasma.org/forum/. Updates occur often, so check back periodically.

Participation in Topical Groups is open to all members of the U.S. fusion research community. 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.

3) EPAct Task Group finishes

In response to a request from the DOE/OFES, a BPO Task Group was formed to help formulate responses to questions posed in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 concerning the development of plans for participation of the U.S. fusion research community in the ITER project. For details, please see the USBPO e-News for 13 March 2006 (http://burningplasma.org/enews.html).

A draft report was sent to FESAC for comment and discussion at the June 1, 2006, FESAC meeting. The summary presentation to FESAC on the draft report is posted on the USBPO web site. Following input from FESAC and the USBPO Council, a final report was sent to DOE in mid-June 2006. The final report will be posted on the USBPO web site after DOE submits its report to Congress.

We would like to thank the members of the EPAct Task Group for helping put together this report on such short notice.

4) Communication Tools

Bulletin Boards - Reminder

The USBPO Bulletin Board is open to members of the U.S. fusion research community who have registered for any USBPO Topical Group (at https://burningplasma.org/jointopical) or in the ICC-BP Group (at https://burningplasma.org/activities).

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.
When asked for your choice of "Display Name", please respond with your full name.
Please type the e-mail address that you used for Topical or ICC-BP Group registration. Your password is self-assigned.
Registrations are manually reviewed, usually once per day, and an automated greeting is sent when your application is processed.