[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 61 (Thursday, March 29, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17165-17167]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-7749]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Science


Office of Science Financial Assistance Program Notice 01-24: 
Theoretical Research in Plasma and Fusion Science

AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Notice inviting new and renewal grant applications.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES) of the Office of 
Science (SC), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces its interest in 
receiving grant applications for theoretical research in magnetic 
fusion energy sciences. All individuals or groups planning to submit 
applications for new or renewal funding in FY 2002, should submit in 
response to this Notice.
    The specific areas of interest are:
    1. Magnetohydrodynamics and Stability,
    2. Confinement and Transport,
    3. Edge and Divertor Physics,
    4. Plasma Heating and Non-inductive Current Drive,
    5. Innovative Confinement Concepts,
    6. Atomic and Molecular Processes in Plasmas.
    More specific information on each area of interest is outlined in 
the general and program specific supplementary information section 
below. OFES may also solicit proposals from time to time under separate 
announcements of Initiatives to support coordinated, goal-directed 
community efforts. The Initiatives will be funded to achieve specific 
programmatic and scientific aims and will be subject to requirements 
that are different from those of this notice. Such grants, if funded, 
will be subject to periodic reviews of progress.
    Due to the limited availability of funds, Principal Investigators 
with continuing grants may not submit a new application in the same 
area(s) of interest as their current grant(s). A Principal Investigator 
may submit only one application under each area of interest as listed 
above.

DATES: To permit timely consideration for awards in Fiscal Year 2002, 
applications submitted in response to this notice must be received no 
later than 4:30 p.m., June 14, 2001. Electronic submissions of formal 
applications will not be accepted.
    Applicants are requested to submit a letter-of-intent by May 17, 
2001, which includes the title of the application, the name of the 
Principal Investigator(s), the requested funding and a one-page 
abstract. These letters-of-intent will be used to organize and expedite 
review processes. Failure to submit a letter-of-intent will not 
negatively prejudice a responsive formal application submitted in a 
timely fashion. Electronic submissions of letters-of-intent are 
acceptable.

ADDRESSES: Formal applications referencing Program Notice 01-24, should 
be sent to: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Grants and 
Contracts Division, SC-64, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, Maryland 
20874-1290, ATTN: Program Notice 01-24. The above address must also be 
used when submitting

[[Page 17166]]

applications by U.S. Postal Service Express or any other commercial 
overnight delivery service, or when hand-carried by the applicant.
    Letters-of-intent referencing Program Notice 01-24, should be 
forwarded to: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of 
Fusion Energy Sciences, SC-50, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, 
Maryland 20874-1290, ATTN: John Sauter. Letters-of-intent can also be 
submitted via E-mail at the following E-mail address: 
[email protected]

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Office of Fusion Energy Sciences, U.S. 
Department of Energy, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874-1290. 
Specific contacts for each area of interest, along with telephone 
numbers and Internet addresses, are listed below:

Magnetohydrodynamics and Stability: Rostom Dagazian, Research Division, 
SC-55, Telephone: (301) 903-4926, or by Internet address, 
[email protected].
Confinement and Transport: Curt Bolton, Research Division, SC-55, 
Telephone: (301) 903-4914, or by Internet address, 
[email protected].
Edge and Divertor Physics: Walter Sadowski, Research Division, SC-55, 
Telephone: (301) 903-4678, or by Internet address, 
[email protected].
Plasma Heating and Non-inductive Current Drive: Walter Sadowski, 
Research Division, SC-55, Telephone: (301) 903-4678, or by Internet 
address, [email protected].
Innovative Confinement Concepts: Steve Eckstrand, Research Division, 
SC-55, Telephone: (301) 903-5546, or by Internet address, 
[email protected].
Atomic and Molecular Processes in Plasmas: Mike Crisp, Research 
Division, SC-55, Telephone: (301) 903-4883, or by Internet address, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: General information about development and 
submission of applications, eligibility, limitations, evaluations and 
selection processes, and other policies and procedures may be found in 
the Application Guide for the Office of Science (SC) Financial 
Assistance Program and 10 CFR Part 605. Electronic access to SC's 
Financial Assistance Guide and required forms is possible via the 
Internet using the following Web site address: http://www.science.doe.gov/production/grants/grants.html. DOE is under no 
obligation to pay for any costs associated with the preparation or 
submission of an application if an award is not made.

Program Funding

    It is anticipated that about $4,000,000 of Fiscal Year 2002, 
funding will be available to fund new work or renewals of existing work 
from applications received in response to this Notice. The number of 
awards and range of funding will depend on the number of applications 
received and selected for award. Since future year funding is not 
anticipated to increase, applications should propose constant effort in 
future years (allowing for inflation). Future year funding will depend 
upon suitable progress and the availability of funds. The cost-
effectiveness of the application will be considered when comparing 
applications with differing funding requirements. Applications 
requiring annual funding as low as $50,000 are welcomed and encouraged.
    Collaborative research projects involving more than one 
institution, as well as basic work in support of the Scientific 
Discovery through Advanced Computing initiative, are encouraged. 
Applications submitted from different institutions, which are directed 
at a common research activity, should clearly indicate they are part of 
a proposed collaboration and contain a brief description of the overall 
research project. However, each application must have a distinct scope 
of work and a qualified principal investigator, who is responsible for 
the research effort being performed at his or her institution. 
Synergistic collaborations with researchers in federal laboratories and 
Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), including 
the DOE National Laboratories are also encouraged, though no funds will 
be provided to these organizations under this Notice. Further 
information on preparation of collaborative applications may be 
accessed via the Internet at http://www.science.doe.gov/production/grants/Colab.html.
    Since we expect that reviewers will be asked to review several 
applications, those applications from individual PIs or small groups 
(1-4 people) should be limited to a maximum of twenty (20) pages 
(including text and figures), while applications from theory groups 
should be limited to thirty (30) pages. A few selected publications may 
be included in an Appendix as background information. In addition, 
please limit biographical and publication information for the principal 
investigator and senior personnel to no more than one page each. A 
minimum of a signed original and seven copies of each application must 
be submitted as stated in the Application Guide. However, due to 
anticipated number of reviewers, each applicant is requested to submit 
twelve (12) copies of his/her application. In addition, each principal 
investigator should provide an e-mail address.
    In addition to the information required by 10 CFR part 605 each 
application should contain the following items: (1) A succinct 
statement of the goal of the research, (2) a detailed research plan, 
(3) the specific results expected at the end of the project period, (4) 
an analysis of the adequacy of the budget, and (5) a discussion of the 
impact of the proposed research on other fields of science.

Merit Review

    Applications will be subjected to formal merit review and will be 
evaluated against the following criteria, which are listed in 
descending order of importance as set forth in 10 CFR part 605 
(www.science.doe.gov/production/grants/605index.html):
    1. Scientific and/or technical merit of the project,
    2. Appropriateness of the proposed method or approach,
    3. Competency of the applicant's personnel and adequacy of the 
proposed resources,
    4. Reasonableness and appropriateness of the proposed budget.
    Proposals from theory groups will also be rated on the synergy of 
the group and the management of the group. With respect to synergy, the 
criteria are: (1) clear evidence of collaborative work and (2) the 
extent to which the group addresses difficult problems requiring a team 
effort. With respect to management the criteria are: (1) clear evidence 
of scientific leadership and (2) the extent to which the management 
evaluates the relevance and scientific impact of the group's work
    The Office of Fusion Energy Sciences shall also consider, as part 
of the evaluation, other available advice or information as well as 
program policy factors such as ensuring an appropriate balance among 
the program areas and within the program areas, ensuring support for 
computational teams, ensuring support for experiments, and quality of 
previous performance. Selection of applications/proposals for award 
will be based upon the findings of the technical evaluations, the 
importance and relevance of the proposed research to the Office of 
Fusion Energy Sciences' mission, and funding availability.

[[Page 17167]]

Program Specific Supplementary Information

Magnetohydrodynamics and Stability

    Grant applications are solicited for new research or continuation 
of past efforts in MHD theory in support of work on magnetically 
confined fusion plasmas. Current work includes advanced tokamak (AT), 
innovative confinement concepts (ICC), burning plasma physics and 
steady state high beta plasma issues. Additional work is particularly 
needed in the areas of nonlinear MHD, neoclassical tearing modes, 
extended MHD (including flows and various non-ideal MHD effects), and 
resistive wall modes. Both analytical and computational approaches will 
be considered. Finally, basic work in support of the Scientific 
Discovery through Advanced Computing initiative that involves the 
development of large-scale codes to explore non-linear MHD will also be 
considered.

Confinement and Transport:

    Applications will be considered in the area of confinement and 
transport in plasmas. This area covers plasma turbulence, energy, 
particle, momentum and radiation transport in the core of the plasma. 
The work of interest includes work in support of tokamak as well as 
non-tokamak innovative concepts. Topics of interest include among 
others, electromagnetic effects on turbulence, shear flow generation 
and its impacts on transport, and understanding of the role of 
collisions in turbulent plasmas. Both analytical and computational work 
is of interest. Basic work in support of the Scientific Discovery 
through Advanced Computing initiative that involves the development of 
large-scale codes to explore turbulence will also be considered.

Edge and Divertor Physics

    Applications will be considered in the area of edge physics theory. 
This area covers plasma turbulence, energy, particle and radiation 
transport in the edge of the plasma and in the neighborhood of the 
separatrix. The work of interest includes neutrals transport in 
divertors and plasma edge region, atomic physics processes affecting 
temperature, radiation and flame front propagation in divertors. Both 
analytical and numerical models are of interest. Techniques and 
algorithms for modeling fast particles in the edge region as well as 
adaptive grid methods and their application to modeling of plasma 
turbulence and transport in the edge region will be considered.

Plasma Heating and Non-Inductive Current Drive

    Applications will be considered in the area of RF physics in 
plasmas. This includes RF propagation, heating and current drive. Of 
interest are both analytical and numerical treatments of interaction of 
plasmas with radio frequency waves. These include electron cyclotron, 
ion cyclotron, lower hybrid and Bernstein waves. Topics of interest 
include, among others, physical processes involved in conversion 
layers, power deposition for temperature profile control and 
interaction of waves of different frequencies to produce specific 
effects on the plasma. Applications for modeling radio frequency 
launchers and their coupling to the edge plasma will also be 
considered.

Innovative Confinement Concepts

    Grant applications are desired for theoretical and computational 
research on innovative confinement concepts that have the possibility 
of leading to improved magnetic fusion systems. In 1996, the U.S. 
fusion program began supporting a broadening array of innovative 
confinement concepts (ICC). Increased theoretical and computational 
research is needed to make optimal use of these experiments as they 
come into operation and to support further development of these 
concepts. Additional work is needed particularly on macroscopic 
stability and turbulence/transport in innovative confinement concepts.

Atomic and Molecular Processes in Plasmas

    Grant applications will be considered for theoretical research 
relevant to the description of atomic processes in plasmas. In addition 
to overall scientific merit, emphasis will be given to work that 
promises to aid the understanding of the basic atomic processes that 
are important for modeling of magnetically confined plasmas and high-
density plasmas found in inertial confinement fusion experiments. The 
program has found understanding electron-atom and electron-ion 
collisions and the radiation emitted by atoms and ions to be of 
importance for the modeling of plasma behavior in experiments. Some 
current areas where atomic processes are considered to be important 
include the effects of transport, the effects of impurities and the 
understanding of diagnostics.
    The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number for this program 
is 81.049, and the solicitation control number is ERFAP 10 CFR part 
605.

    Issued in Washington, DC on March 22, 2001.
John Rodney Clark,
Associate Director of Science for Resource Management.
[FR Doc. 01-7749 Filed 3-28-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-U