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

October 25, 2006
from Ray Fonck, USBPO Director

CONTENTS:

1. Topical Group Meetings at the APS 48th Annual Meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics in Philadelphia
2. ITER Town Meeting at APS/DPP meeting
3. Upcoming Diagnostics Workshop
4. Status Update, ITER Physics Tasks
5. Status Update, ITER Issue Cards

1) TOPICAL GROUP MEETINGS AT THE APS 48TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE DIVISION OF PLASMA PHYSICS

The following Topical Groups have scheduled specific meetings during the APS DPP meeting during the week of October 30, 2006. Please note that leaders for all of the Topical Groups will be available for informal discussions following the ITER Town Meeting on the evening of Tuesday, October 31.

Integrated Scenarios
Date: Wednesday, November 1
Time: 3:30pm
Location: Currently planned to meet at the tables in the poster hall.

Agenda:
1. Discuss the role that this group intends to play in the Burning Plasma Organization.
2. Discuss the proposed BPO task on "Limitations to Plasma Startup Flexibility for Advanced Scenarios for ITER." A strawman description of this task was posted in the Integrated Scenarios forum by Chuck Kessel on September 22.

MHD, Macroscopic Plasma Physics
Date: Tuesday, October 31
Time: 5:30pm-7:00pm (hopefully only until 6:30pm)
Location: Room 304, Philadelphia Marriott

Agenda:
1. J. Menard will summarize ITPA MHD meeting outcome as it relates to ELM/RWM/EF coil analysis task.
2. T. Evans, G. Navratil, and M. Schaffer will discuss status and plans for ELM/RWM/EF analysis.

Modeling & Simulation
Date: Tuesday, October 31
Time: 4:30pm
Location: Currently planned to meet at the tables in the poster hall.

2) TOWN MEETING ON ITER PROGRESS, FOLLOWED BY INFORMAL MEETINGS WITH TOPICAL GROUP LEADERS

A general town meeting will be held APS/DPP meeting in Philadelphia at 8:00 pm Tuesday, Oct. 31 in Grand Salon CDE of the Philadelphia Marriot. The topic will be ITER Progress, with presentations from N. Holtkamp, Principal Deputy Director General of ITER, N. Sauthoff, Head of the U.S. ITER Project Office, and R. Fonck for the U.S. Burning Plasma Organization.

Following this session, there will be informal gatherings of USBPO Topical Groups in the same area. Many Topical Group leaders will be available to meet with community members to discuss issues of interest to BPO members. All members of the U.S. fusion community are welcome.

3) UPCOMING DIAGNOSTICS WORKSHOP - SPONSORED BY THE USBPO

The first USBPO-sponsored workshop on diagnostic development for burning plasmas will be held on February 6-8, 2007, at General Atomics. We anticipate the use of remote participation as much as possible.

The agenda will include:
Overview talks

ITER Diagnostics
US plans

Invited presentations

US tasks reports (US IPO sponsored)
Expected performance
Physics Requirements
Discussions on issues
Uncredited systems/Non US systems

Contributed presentations

Potential US contributions
Generic issues (mirrors, deposition, erosion, radiation effects)
Additional measurements

Poster session

Detailed ITER diagnostics (overall)
High priority issues (ITPA)
ITER issue cards
Individual contributions

The agenda will include a significant amount of time for discussion, and some contributions may be assigned to the poster session(s).

This will be a meeting dedicated for the U.S. community, so we will not seek international attendance (except from the ITER team), although they will be welcome to attend. Additional details, including a web site address, will be forthcoming.

4) STATUS UPDATE, ITER PHYSICS TASKS

The USBPO is currently negotiating with the ITER Central Team using the priorities outlined on the USBPO bulletin board forum U.S. Burning Plasma Organization Forum>Task Groups>ITER Physics Tasks 2006-2007, 14 High-Priority Tasks Submitted for Consideration.

Chuck Greenfield, Jon Menard, and Nermin Uckan are working with the ITER Central Team to further define the submitted tasks, as needed, to determine which tasks the U.S. community will be responsible for.

5) STATUS UPDATE, ITER ISSUE CARDS