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Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society [NPS05]
Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society and North Shore Subsection
6:30 PM, Thursday, 22 May
Controlled Nuclear Fusion: Where are we at? What problems remain?
Dr. Robert S. Granetz, Principal Research Scientist, MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center
Nuclear fusion is the energy source of the sun and the H-bomb. Research on harnessing controlled fusion energy, with the goal of utility electrical power generation, has been carried on in the US and throughout the world for many decades now. The motivations for this considerable effort are the promise of electrical power without burning fossil fuels or producing greenhouse gases, having a virtually unlimited fuel supply that is readily available around the globe, and significant reductions in radioactive waste and disposal issues compared to fission. An international consortium is currently planning for the construction of the most advanced fusion reactor to date (ITER), based on the 'tokamak' magnetic confinement concept, and validated as much as possible by numerous present-day experiments and theory. This presentation will concentrate on the current status of fusion energy research, what the major remaining issues are, and a description of the planned ITER device.
Dr. Robert S. Granetz, Principal Research Scientist, MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center: Dr. Granetz is a principal research scientist on the Alcator C-Mod project, program leader of the MHD group, and head of the diagnostic neutral beam (DNB) group. His principal areas of research include MHD instabilities, disruption mitigation studies, magnetic equilibrium reconstruction, x-ray tomographic imaging, and DNB characterization. Currently he is also responsible for run planning and scheduling of C-Mod operations. Dr. Granetz has also taught graduate student courses in plasma physics and fusion for the Physics Department and Nuclear Science and Engineering Departments at MIT.
Dr. Granetz received his undergraduate and graduate degrees at MIT, doing thesis work on the early Alcator tokamaks. He spent 2.5 years in Europe as a visiting scientist on the Joint European Torus (JET), the world's largest tokamak. He has also participated extensively on the ITER advisory group on MHD issues.
In his spare time, Dr. Granetz enjoys snowboarding with his sons, scuba diving year-round on wrecks in the northeast, winter backpacking in the White Mtns, sailing in regattas off of Marblehead, and even a little skydiving.
This meeting is sponsored by the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society and IEEE North Shore Subsection. Meeting time will be Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 6:30 PM at the University Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854, Ball 301. Refreshments will be served at 6:30 PM and the talk will begin at 7:00 PM. A no host dinner at the Brew House will follow the talk.
Directions: To UMass Lowell North Campus from the Lowell Connector: From the Connector, take Exit 5B onto Thorndike St. After four traffic lights (1/2 mile), Thorndike St. bears right and becomes Dutton St. Continue on Dutton St. about 1/2 mile to Merrimack Street by City Hall. Proceed straight onto Arcand Drive. At the end of Arcand Drive, the Tsongas Arena is straight ahead. Turn left at the traffic light onto Morissette Blvd. Wannalancit Mills is one block on the right. Proceed to the second light at Aiken Street. UML East, Lelacheur Ball Park and the Campus Recreation Center are on the right. On Morissette Blvd., continue to the third light and turn right onto the University Ave Bridge. Once across the bridge, UMass Lowell North is on either side of the road.
All are welcome to attend the meeting and if you're planning to attend please call or contact: Prof. Dikshitulu Kalluri (978) 934-3318 or dikshitulu_kalluri@uml.edu or Constantine Taki Markos (781) 883-0179 or ctm@ieee.org.
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Updated: April 25, 2008.