US ITER project
completes management team
Oak Ridge, TN, August 17: A
team of scientists and engineers has been chosen to manage the
United States' role in a multinational project to harness the power
of fusion, the project manager announced Monday.
Completing a process that began October 1, 2005, the 12-member
contractor team will manage the U.S. contribution to ITER. ITER is a
global initiative to build the world's most advanced magnetic fusion
experimental facility, said Ned Sauthoff, head of the U.S. ITER
Project Office at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
"This team will help chart the
nation's course for one of the largest energy-science projects in
history," Sauthoff said. "Each member brings the outstanding
technical abilities, strong management skills and experience, and
the determination needed to make ITER a success. With these
appointments, we are off to a great start."
ITER, Latin for "the way," is an
international experiment to hasten the demonstration of the
feasibility of power from fusion -- the process which heats the sun
and stars. The goal of fusion research, including ITER, is to
develop the knowledge base needed for an economically attractive
fusion energy source.
The U.S. ITER project team members
are:
• Dr. Ned Sauthoff, Project Manager,
who has joined ORNL after completing a distinguished career at
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, where he served as U.S. ITER's
planning officer for 18 months before becoming US ITER Project
Manager in February. A leading coordinator of international fusion
research activities, he headed PPPL's Offsite Research Department,
which supports fusion research collaborations around the world. He
is a former president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic
Engineers-USA.
• Mr. Carl Strawbridge, Deputy
Project Manager, of ORNL, who served as Deputy Project Manager for
the Department of Energy's $1.4 billion Spallation Neutron Source at
ORNL. His over 25 years of technical project management and
industrial engineering experience includes top leadership positions
in several US Navy nuclear-capable shipyards.
• Mr. Brad Nelson, Engineering
Manager, of ORNL, group leader in Fusion Energy Division and
principal developer for projects such as the Quasi-Poloidal
Stellarator at ORNL; the High Power Prototype antenna for the Joint
European Torus; and the National Compact Stellarator Experiment at
ORNL and PPPL.
• Mr. Jeff Geouque, Project
Procurement Director, of ORNL, currently the manager for the SNS
procurement group and worked on international agreements in
technology transfer at Argonne National Laboratory.
• Dr. John Miller, Magnet Systems
Team Leader, who has returned to ORNL from Florida State University,
where he directed the construction of the $12 million 45-Tesla
Hybrid Magnet System, the highest steady state magnetic field in the
world for research, at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.
He also was director of the lab's Magnet Science and Technology
Department.
• Ms. Jan Berry, Cooling Water
Systems Team Leader, of ORNL, a senior engineer and program manager
in the Engineering Science and Technology Division, who has managed
large industrial contracts, complex projects, and multi-disciplinary
teams in development of prototype thermal energy recovery and
electricity generation systems.
• Mr. Charles Neumeyer, Electric
Power Systems Team Leader, of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL)
who was project engineering manager of the National Spherical Torus
Experiment at PPPL, a $25M project for fusion energy research .
• Dr. Dave Johnson, Diagnostics Team
Leader, of PPPL, who has served as Division Head of Diagnostic
Development for PPPL experimental activities in fusion facilities
around the world, and also managed diagnostic development for the
National Spherical Torus Experiment and led diagnostics planning for
the National Compact Stellarator Experiment, also at PPPL. He is the
coordinator for US participation in diagnostic work in the
International Tokamak Physics Activity.
• Mr. Mike Hechler, Blanket Shielding
and Port Limiter Systems Team Leader, of ORNL, most recently senior
engineer for the SNS Accelerator Systems Division, responsible for
the design integration and installation of proton accelerator
systems. He also designed the high energy particle detector
subsystem for the DOE's Superconducting Super Collider.
• Dr. Dave Rasmussen, Vacuum Pumping
and Fueling, Ion and Electron Cyclotron Systems Team Leader, of ORNL,
group leader of the Plasma Applications and Technology Group in the
Fusion Energy Division. Rasmussen is a leader in U.S. projects for
plasma heating, including experiments at Japan's National Institute
for Fusion Science and Germany's Max Plank Institute for Plasma
Physics.
• Mr. Don Green, Tritium Plant
Exhaust Processing Manager, of Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL)
currently Director of Engineered Equipment and Systems at SRNL and
has led development of equipment in robotics, computer modeling,
electrical instrumentation and other areas. He was Chief Engineer
for Tritium Facilities at Westinghouse Savannah River Company, where
he oversaw enrichment, processing and compression of gaseous
tritium.
• Ms. Suzanne Herron, Project
Controls Manager, of ORNL, who most recently was Project Management
Controls and Information Systems Manager for the SNS, playing a
vital role in keeping the SNS project -- a collaboration of six
national laboratories -- on schedule and on budget. She also headed
the SNS Records Management and Document Control Program, overseeing
computer software systems to support SNS business and technical
data.
As US ITER Project Manager for UT-Battelle,
Sauthoff will direct all non-governmental aspects of U.S.
involvement with the international ITER project, include securing
technical assistance from within U.S. fusion community labs,
universities and industries; procuring and shipping U.S. hardware
contributions; arranging for U.S. personnel to work abroad at the
ITER site; and representing the U.S. to the international ITER
organization on construction and preparation for ITER operations.
On February 1, 2006, the DOE
announced the move from PPPL to ORNL to optimize the roles of the
two DOE national labs and allow the project to take better advantage
of project management experience gained by ORNL in construction of
the SNS.
Officially completed in May, SNS is
the world's premier neutron scattering facility and reestablishes
U.S. leadership in the next generation of materials research.
Project management teams also are
being named for the six other ITER partners: China, the European
Union, India, Japan, South Korea, and the Russian Federation. The
project is to be located in the European Union site at Cadarache,
France.
Construction of the ITER facility is
expected to begin in 2008 and be operational in 2016, enabling
fusion research on burning plasma physics and technology for up to
20 years.
