National Academies Press: OpenBook

Burning Plasma: Bringing a Star to Earth (2004)

Chapter: Front Matter

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2004. Burning Plasma: Bringing a Star to Earth. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10816.
×

BURNING PLASMA

BRINGING A STAR TO EARTH

Burning Plasma Assessment Committee

Plasma Science Committee

Board on Physics and Astronomy

Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, D.C.
www.nap.edu

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2004. Burning Plasma: Bringing a Star to Earth. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10816.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

This study was supported by Grant No. DE-AT01-02ER54676 between the National Academy of Sciences and the Department of Energy. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.

International Standard Book Number 0-309-09082-2 (Book)

International Standard Book Number 0-309-52766-X (PDF)

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2003117153

Additional copies of this report are available from:
National Academies Press,
500 Fifth Street, N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, DC 20055; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313 (in the Washington metropolitan area); Internet <http://www.nap.edu>;

and

Board on Physics and Astronomy, National Research Council, Keck 922, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20001; Internet <http://www.national-academies.org/bpa>.

Cover: The Tokamak Test Fusion Reactor (TFTR) was a fusion experiment at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory that achieved one of the world’s first partially burning plasmas in the 1990s. Image courtesy of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.

Copyright 2004 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2004. Burning Plasma: Bringing a Star to Earth. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10816.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.

The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Wm. A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering.

The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.

The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. Wm. A. Wulf are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.

www.national-academies.org

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2004. Burning Plasma: Bringing a Star to Earth. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10816.
×

BURNING PLASMA ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE

JOHN F. AHEARNE,

Sigma Xi, Duke University,

Co-chair

RAYMOND FONCK,

University of Wisconsin at Madison,

Co-chair

JOHN N. BAHCALL,

Institute for Advanced Study

GORDON A. BAYM,

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

IRA B. BERNSTEIN,

Yale University

STEPHEN C. COWLEY,

Imperial College London

EDWARD A. FRIEMAN,

Science Applications International Corporation

WALTER GEKELMAN,

University of California at Los Angeles

JOSEPH HEZIR,

EOP Group, Inc.

WILLIAM M. NEVINS,

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

RONALD R. PARKER,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

CLAUDIO PELLEGRINI,

University of California at Los Angeles

BURTON RICHTER,

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

CLIFFORD M. SURKO,

University of California at San Diego

TONY S. TAYLOR,

General Atomics

MICHAEL A. ULRICKSON,

Sandia National Laboratories

MICHAEL C. ZARNSTORFF,

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

ELLEN G. ZWEIBEL,

University of Wisconsin at Madison

Staff

DONALD C. SHAPERO, Director,

Board on Physics and Astronomy

TIMOTHY I. MEYER, Study Director (from August 2003)

MICHAEL H. MOLONEY, Study Director (May 2002–July 2003)

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2004. Burning Plasma: Bringing a Star to Earth. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10816.
×

PLASMA SCIENCE COMMITTEE

CARY B. FOREST,

University of Wisconsin at Madison,

Chair

JONATHAN ARONS,

University of California at Berkeley

CHRISTINA BACK,

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

MICHAEL S. BARNES,

Applied Materials

ALLEN BOOZER,

Columbia University

JOHN CARY,

University of Colorado at Boulder

CYNTHIA A. CATTELL,

University of Minnesota

WALTER GEKELMAN,

University of California at Los Angeles

MICHAEL A. LIEBERMAN,

University of California at Berkeley

CLAUDIO PELLEGRINI,

University of California at Los Angeles

DMITRI RYUTOV,

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

STEWART J. ZWEBEN,

Princeton University

Staff

DONALD C. SHAPERO, Director,

Board on Physics and Astronomy

TIMOTHY I. MEYER, Program Officer

PAMELA A. LEWIS, Project Associate

NELSON QUIÑONES, Project Assistant

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2004. Burning Plasma: Bringing a Star to Earth. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10816.
×

BOARD ON PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY

BURTON RICHTER,

Stanford University,

Chair

ANNEILA I. SARGENT,

California Institute of Technology,

Vice Chair

ELIHU ABRAHAMS,

Rutgers State University

JONATHAN BAGGER,

Johns Hopkins University

GORDON A. BAYM,

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

WILLIAM EATON,

National Institutes of Health

RAYMOND FONCK,

University of Wisconsin at Madison

WENDY L. FREEDMAN,

Carnegie Observatories

LAURA H. GREEN,

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

FRANCES HELLMAN,

University of California at San Diego

ERIC P. IPPEN,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

LINDA J. (LEE) MAGID,

University of Tennessee at Knoxville

THOMAS M. O’NEIL,

University of California at San Diego

JULIA M. PHILLIPS,

Sandia National Laboratories

JOSEPH H. TAYLOR, JR.,

Princeton University

THOMAS N. THEIS,

IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center

C. MEGAN URRY,

Yale University

CARL E. WIEMAN,

University of Colorado/JILA

Staff

DONALD C. SHAPERO, Director

ROBERT L. RIEMER, Senior Program Officer

BRIAN D. DEWHURST, Research Associate

TIMOTHY I. MEYER, Program Officer

PAMELA A. LEWIS, Project Associate

NELSON QUIÑONES, Project Assistant

VAN AN, Financial Associate

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2004. Burning Plasma: Bringing a Star to Earth. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10816.
×

Preface

The goal of achieving a sustained thermonuclear fusion burn capable of generating power in some future reactor has been a long-term research goal for the United States and the global research community. In the past decade great strides have been made toward that goal, leading the fusion research program to a decision point—is it ready to take the step of executing a burning plasma experiment, and how should that step be taken?

Given the considerable federal investment over several decades, the fusion program has rightly been the subject of many reviews and assessments—by the National Research Council (NRC), the Department of Energy’s Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee, and the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology—and has also been the subject of congressional review. Most recently the question has been whether the United States should include a burning plasma experiment—one in which at least 50 percent of the energy needed to sustain the fusion reaction is generated from within the plasma—in the Department of Energy’s magnetic fusion program as operated by the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES). A burning plasma experiment is a key scientific milestone on the road to the development of fusion power.

The Burning Plasma Assessment Committee was established by the National Research Council under the Board on Physics and Astronomy with oversight and guidance from the Plasma Science Committee in July 2002 at the request of DOE’s Office of Science.1 The committee was charged with assessing (1) the importance

1  

The establishment of an NRC committee on a burning plasma experiment was also written in to legislation under consideration by Congress at the time of the committee’s establishment.

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2004. Burning Plasma: Bringing a Star to Earth. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10816.
×

of a burning plasma experimental program, (2) the scientific and technical readiness to undertake a burning plasma experimental program, and (3) the plan for the U.S. magnetic fusion burning plasma experimental program. It was asked to make recommendations on the program strategy aimed at maximizing the yield of scientific and technical understanding as the foundation for the future development of fusion as an energy source (see Appendix A for the full text of the task).

The Burning Plasma Assessment Committee was established to conduct the latest of several NRC studies that have considered the direction of the U.S. fusion program over the past decade. Both the 1995 report Plasma Science: From Fundamental Research to Technological Applications2 and the 2001 report of the Fusion Science Assessment Committee (FUSAC)3 provided vital background for the Burning Plasma Assessment Committee in carrying out this study. Plasma Science concluded that many opportunities for fundamental scientific exploration were missed because of the then-schedule-driven energy development mandate of the fusion energy program. The report also recommended that, to aid the development of fusion and other energy-related programs, the Department of Energy should provide increased support for basic plasma science. The FUSAC study concluded that “a program organized around critical science goals will also maximize progress toward a practical fusion power source.”4

The third item of the committee’s task was to provide “an independent review and assessment of the plan for the U.S. magnetic fusion burning plasma experimental program” (emphasis added; see Appendix A). None of the inertial confinement fusion (ICF) programs are considered in this report since they are not part of the magnetic fusion program and, with the exception of the small, heavy ion program, are not part of a program aiming toward the use of fusion for commercial energy purposes. The major work of DOE’s large program in ICF is the study of high energy density physics using implosions driven by energy deposition from focused laser beams and plasma pinches. A major facility will be the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, as well as the Z machine at Sandia National Laboratories. Much of the ICF work is done as part of the nuclear weapons work in the National Nuclear Security Administration, a section of the Department of Energy. A small program is beginning to explore the use of heavy ions for ICF energy deposition.

2  

National Research Council, Plasma Science: From Fundamental Research to Technological Applications, Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1995.

3  

National Research Council, An Assessment of the Department of Energy’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences Program, Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 2001.

4  

National Research Council, An Assessment of the Department of Energy’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences Program, Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 2001, p. 2.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2004. Burning Plasma: Bringing a Star to Earth. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10816.
×

The membership of the Burning Plasma Assessment Committee was designed to bring together experts in fusion science, plasma science, and other areas (see Appendix G) to consider the charge. At the committee’s first meeting, Raymond Orbach, director of DOE’s Office of Science, requested an interim report by the end of 2002, addressing two aspects of the charge—the importance of a burning plasma experiment for fusion energy, and the scientific and technical readiness to undertake a burning plasma experiment—and, in particular, to provide advice on the question of U.S. reentry into the negotiations for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).5 Issued on December 20, 2002, the interim report6 recommended that the United States reenter the ITER negotiations with a view to full participation in the experiment. Following publication of the report, President Bush announced that the U.S. government would rejoin the negotiations, and a U.S. team has since become active.7

In the context of possible U.S. reentry into the ITER negotiations, the interim report offered some preliminary findings and conclusions with respect to the importance and readiness issues, but left much of the charge to the committee unaddressed. After completing its interim report, the committee focused on the remainder of its charge and, most importantly, on the consideration of a strategy for “maximizing the yield of scientific and technical understanding as the foundation for the future development of fusion as an energy source” (see Appendix A).

In addressing its task the committee considered questions relevant to the charge that included, but were not limited to, the following:

  • What are the important scientific and technical problems to be addressed in the burning plasma experimental program?

  • To what degree will the solutions further the development of fusion energy in magnetic-confinement systems generally or in tokamaks specifically?

  • What is the scientific interest in these problems?

  • To what degree can individual problems be investigated in smaller, less costly experiments, and to what degree does satisfactory understanding

5  

ITER will be a burning plasma experiment based on the tokamak concept—the leading magnetic-confinement fusion configuration, whose name comes from the Russian word for a toroidally (or doughnut) shaped magnetic field. ITER is expected to be larger than existing tokamaks, with a major radius of 5 to 8 m, and is expected to use superconducting magnets to confine the hot plasma.

6  

The text of the Burning Plasma Assessment Committee’s interim report is reproduced in Appendix E of this report and is available online at http://books.nap.edu/openbook/NI000487/html/index.html.

7  

The negotiations to start the ITER project are being attended by the European Union, Russia, Japan, China, South Korea, Canada, and the United States.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2004. Burning Plasma: Bringing a Star to Earth. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10816.
×

depend on integration of the phenomena in a single burning plasma experiment?

  • What are the merits and limitations of the principal realizations currently proposed for a burning plasma experiment, and to what degree can each realization address the problems identified in the answer to the first question?

  • Does the plan for a burning plasma experimental program envision sufficient diagnostics, theory, and technology support to generate good understanding of the problems to be investigated?

  • What are the implications of a given experiment for the future development of the program?

  • Will the burning plasma experimental program be well integrated with the rest of the U.S. fusion program?

  • Will it be well integrated with international efforts in fusion research?

The committee’s task was a challenging one. In considering the questions listed above and in approaching the execution of its charge, the committee received important input from the fusion community and others—at its formal meetings8 and via an e-mail solicitation to the plasma community and a town meeting held at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society’s Division of Plasma Physics. The committee extends its gratitude to the community for this input, and in particular thanks the organizers of and participants in the Fusion Workshop held in Snowmass, Colorado, in July 2002. The committee commends all of those involved in the Snowmass project for providing a valuable technical assessment of the options for achieving a burning plasma experiment.

In particular, the committee expresses its appreciation to the following individuals for their contributions to its work and the completion of this report: Bruno Coppi, Stephen Dean, Robert Goldston, Robert Hirsch, Karl Lackner, Michael Mauel, Dale Meade, Gerald Navratil, Stewart Prager, Marshall Rosenbluth, Ned Sauthoff, and Ronald Stambaugh. The committee also expresses its deepest gratitude to Michael Moloney, the NRC study director for this committee, and to Donald Shapero, director of the Board on Physics and Astronomy, and Thomas O’Neil, chair of the Plasma Science Committee, who put tremendous and productive effort into defining the scope of this study with colleagues on the Plasma Science Committee and at the Department of Energy. Finally, we thank Timothy Meyer, who, after Michael Moloney left, took over and successfully managed the

8  

Agendas for the committee’s four meetings are provided in Appendix B.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2004. Burning Plasma: Bringing a Star to Earth. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10816.
×

difficult task of the final steps in the National Research Council’s review process and brought this report through to publication.

In presenting this report, we would like to thank our colleagues on the committee. The diversity of the committee’s areas of expertise was its greatest strength, leading to many difficult questions being asked in our open and closed discussions. The committee’s findings, conclusions, and recommendations are presented with the hope that, as the nation faces financially challenging times, this report will help inform the difficult decisions that must be taken to support an important field of science. It behooves the fusion community and those who support its work to develop a prioritized strategy to provide a realistic framework for the advancement of a science that has the potential to lead to an exciting new energy source.

John F. Ahearne, Co-chair, and Raymond Fonck, Co-chair

Burning Plasma Assessment Committee

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2004. Burning Plasma: Bringing a Star to Earth. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10816.
×

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2004. Burning Plasma: Bringing a Star to Earth. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10816.
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Acknowledgment of Reviewers

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:


Jack Conner, United Kingdom Atomic Energy Agency,

Ronald C. Davidson, Princeton University,

W. Kenneth Davis, Bechtel Corporation (retired),

Val L. Fitch, Princeton University,

Cary B. Forest, University of Wisconsin at Madison,

Harold K. Forsen, National Academy of Engineering,

T. Kenneth Fowler, University of California at Berkeley,

William Happer, Princeton University,

David Meyerhofer, University of Rochester, and

Marshall N. Rosenbluth, University of California at San Diego.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2004. Burning Plasma: Bringing a Star to Earth. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10816.
×

Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Louis J. Lanzerotti (Lucent Technologies) and Charles F. Kennel (University of California at San Diego). Appointed by the National Research Council, they were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2004. Burning Plasma: Bringing a Star to Earth. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10816.
×
   

 Striking the Balance,

 

38

   

 Summary of Findings and Discussion,

 

38

   

 Implications for the Fusion Community,

 

40

   

 Budget Implications,

 

41

   

 Setting Priorities to Strike the Balance,

 

43

   

 Conclusions and Recommendations—Elements of a Strategically Balanced Fusion Program,

 

44

   

 Conclusions,

 

44

   

 Recommendations for a Program Strategy,

 

47

   

 Final Comment,

 

50

2

 

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL VALUE OF AND INTEREST IN A BURNING PLASMA

 

51

   

 Introduction,

 

51

   

 Scientific Importance of a Burning Plasma for Fusion Energy Science and the Development of Fusion Energy,

 

54

   

 Behavior of Self-Sustaining Burning Plasmas,

 

55

   

 Fusion-Plasma Turbulence and Turbulent Transport,

 

56

   

 Stability Limits to Plasma Pressure,

 

57

   

 Controlling Sustained Burning Plasmas,

 

58

   

 Power and Particle Exhaust,

 

58

   

 Conclusion,

 

59

   

 Scientific Importance of a Burning Plasma for Basic Plasma Physics,

 

59

   

 Magnetic Field Line Reconnection,

 

60

   

 Plasma Turbulence,

 

60

   

 Abrupt Plasma Behavior,

 

61

   

 Energetic Particles in Plasmas,

 

61

   

 Conclusion,

 

61

   

 General Scientific Importance of a Burning Plasma,

 

64

   

 Technological Importance for Fusion Energy Science and the Development of Fusion Energy,

 

65

   

 Breeding Blanket Development,

 

66

   

 Tritium Processing,

 

67

   

 Magnet Technology,

 

68

   

 High-Heat-Flux Component Development,

 

69

   

 Remote Handling Technology,

 

69

   

 Conclusion,

 

70

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2004. Burning Plasma: Bringing a Star to Earth. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10816.
×

3

 

READINESS FOR UNDERTAKING A BURNING PLASMA EXPERIMENT

 

71

   

 Scientific Readiness,

 

72

   

 Confinement Projections,

 

72

   

 Operational Boundaries—Plasma Pressure and Current,

 

75

   

 Mitigation of Abnormal Events,

 

77

   

 Maintenance of Plasma Purity,

 

78

   

 Characterization Techniques,

 

80

   

 Plasma Control Techniques,

 

80

   

 Conclusion,

 

81

   

 Technical Readiness,

 

81

   

 Fabrication of Necessary Components,

 

82

   

 Component Lifetime in a Nuclear Environment,

 

82

   

 Lifetime of Plasma-Facing Components,

 

84

   

 Tritium Inventory Control,

 

85

   

 Remote Maintenance,

 

85

   

 Fueling, Heating, and Current Drive Control,

 

86

   

 Conclusion,

 

87

4

 

PROGRAM STRUCTURE AND BALANCE

 

88

   

 Introduction,

 

88

   

 Fusion Science Issues and Research Portfolio,

 

91

   

 Plasma Turbulence and Turbulent Transport,

 

96

   

 Stability Limits to Plasma Pressure,

 

96

   

 Stochastic Magnetic Fields and Self-Organized Systems,

 

97

   

 Plasma Confinement with Different Types of Magnetic Field Symmetry,

 

98

   

 Control of Sustained High-Pressure Plasmas,

 

98

   

 Energetic Particles in Plasmas,

 

99

   

 Plasma Behavior When Self-Sustained by Fusion,

 

99

   

 Research Opportunities and Science and Technology Goals for the Domestic Fusion Program,

 

100

   

 Directly Support the Burning Plasma Program on ITER,

 

101

   

 Develop an Understanding of Paths to Advanced Tokamak Regimes,

 

106

   

 Test the Effects of Extreme Toroidicity in the Spherical Torus,

 

107

   

 Investigate Sustainment and Enhanced Confinement in the Reversed-Field Pinch,

 

108

   

 Explore the Potential for Passive Stability and Steady-State Operation in Three-Dimensional Stellarators with Underlying Magnetic Symmetry,

 

108

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2004. Burning Plasma: Bringing a Star to Earth. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10816.
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Significant advances have been made in fusion science, and a point has been reached when we need to decide if the United States is ready to begin a burning plasma experiment. A burning plasma—in which at least 50 percent of the energy to drive the fusion reaction is generated internally—is an essential step to reach the goal of fusion power generation. The Burning Plasma Assessment Committee was formed to provide advice on this decision. The committee concluded that there is high confidence in the readiness to proceed with the burning plasma step. The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), with the United States as a significant partner, was the best choice. Once a commitment to ITER is made, fulfilling it should become the highest priority of the U.S. fusion research program. A funding trajectory is required that both captures the benefits of joining ITER and retains a strong scientific focus on the long-range goals of the program. Addition of the ITER project will require that the content, scope, and level of U.S. fusion activity be defined by program balancing through a priority-setting process initiated by the Office of Fusion Energy Science.

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