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DoE Funds Multiple Fusion Labs

The Holy Grail of energy tech
 Washington (SPX) May 27, 2004
The Department of Energy has selected the University of Maryland, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Rochester to host two new Fusion Science Centers, Dr. Raymond L. Orbach, Director of DOE's Office of Science announced Thursday. The universities will establish academic centers of excellence that will focus on fundamental issues in fusion plasma science. The centers will perform research in areas of such wide scope and complexity that it would not be feasible for individual or small groups of researchers to make progress.

The centers are intended to strengthen the connection between the fusion research community and the broader scientific community. Education and training will be an integral part of each center's research program.

Total Department of Energy funding for the two centers over their five-year duration is expected to be nearly $12 million. Each of the selected centers also will be supported by matching funds. Each grant may be renewed once for an additional five years.

"These two Fusion Science Centers will strengthen basic research into the frontiers of fusion science, a central mission of the department's fusion energy sciences program," Dr. Orbach said. "The centers will train students to meet the U.S. fusion program's future needs and help our fusion program communicate about our progress and accomplishments with the broader scientific community."

The University of Maryland and UCLA will jointly host a Center for Multiscale Plasma Dynamics using facilities at both of the schools. With participation from Princeton University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Michigan, the center will bring together scientists with expertise in applied mathematics, theoretical and computational plasma physics and basic and performance-dominated plasma experiments.

The researchers will study the interaction of microscale and macroscale dynamics in key plasma physics problems. DOE funding for the University of Maryland/UCLA-led Fusion Science Center will total $6.4 million over five years.

The University of Rochester will host the Fusion Center for Extreme States of Matter and Fast Ignition Physics. The center will develop an understanding of the physics of creating extreme states of matter using a combination of high-energy "drivers" to provide compression and high intensity lasers to provide heat.

The center will involve participation of MIT, General Atomics, University of California at San Diego, Ohio State University, UCLA and the University of Texas at Austin, and it will include collaboration with the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration programs at Rochester and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. DOE funding for the University of Rochester-led Fusion Science Center will total $5.5 million over five years.

The Fusion Science Centers program is a response to recommendations of the National Research Council's Report, "An Assessment of the Department of Energy's Office of Fusion Energy Sciences Program."

The centers were chosen in a two-step process. In response to a Federal Register notice last August, 14 preliminary applications to establish new Fusion Science Centers were received last fall. Following a peer review of these applications, seven collaborations were invited to submit full applications for additional peer review.

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Biofuel Soars As Gas Prices Rise
Berkeley CA (UPI) May 27, 2004
Once a month, Tim Ridolfi pulls his 2003 Volkswagen Golf TDI into the Biofuel Oasis, a cutting edge fuel station located in a warehouse district on the outskirts of Berkeley.



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