Current Trends in International Fusion Research: Proceedings of the 2nd Symposium

The first Symposium in this series "Current Trends in International Fusion Research: Review and Assessment" was held in Washington, D.C., U.S.A., in November 1994 and the Proceedings were published in 1997. A full report of the Symposium appeared in a special issue of the Journal of Fusion Energy, 14(3): 281–327, 1995. As a continuation of these successful biennial conferences, a second Symposium was held in Washington, D.C., on March 10 – 14, 1997. A selected number of scientists, whose reputation and stature are renowned, were invited to present review papers in their field of interest in fusion research. Since the gathering was international in nature, scientists from all over the world were invited and the meeting had representatives from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Russia, Japan, Spain, etc. The objectives of the Symposium were to identify, review, and assess the benefits, uncertainties, and potentialities of the conventional, alternative, and exploratory approaches to fusion based research, and to assess industrial spinoffs, and other applications. A Panel of Distinguished Scientists and Engineers, which included Drs. Stirling Colgate, Edward Creutz, Arthur Kantrowitz (Chairman), Joseph E. Lannutti, Hans J. Schneider-Muntau, Glen T. Seaborg (Nobel Prize Winner), and Frederick Seitz were in charge of commenting on the fusion programs presented at the Symposium and to provide recommendations with respect to direction, balance, and synergism of the research. The Proceedings of the second Symposium contains all the review papers presented at the meeting, as well as the report from the Panel of Distinguished Scientists and Engineers.