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Fusion Power Associates honors LLNL scientists

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LLNL researchers Wayne Meier and Susana Reyes are recipients of two 2015 Fusion Power Associates awards.

The Fusion Power Associates (FPA) Board of Directors has selected Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) nuclear engineer Susana Reyes as the recipient of its 2015 Excellence in Fusion Engineering Award. The FPA also will present a Special Award to LLNL fusion scientist Wayne Meier. The awards will be presented at the FPA’s 36th Annual Meeting and Symposium, "Strategies to Fusion Power," Dec. 16-17 in Washington, DC.

FPA Excellence in Fusion Engineering Awards have been given annually since 1987, in memory of MIT Professor David Rose, to recognize researchers in the relatively early part of their careers who have shown both technical accomplishment and the potential to become exceptionally influential leaders in the fusion field. Reyes is cited for "the leadership she has been providing to both magnetic and inertial fusion efforts in many areas, including safety and licensing, tritium systems and power plant designs." FPA noted "the important role she played in the National Academy’s panel on Prospects for Inertial Confinement Fusion Energy Systems and as chair of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) Fusion Energy Division."

Reyes has more than 15 years of experience in international fusion projects. She joined LLNL’s Fusion Energy Program in 1999 to work on the safety analysis of inertial fusion energy (IFE) power plant designs. Since then, she has worked on a variety of fusion research projects, such as the U.S. International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Test Blanket Module program, for the testing of tritium-breeding blanket concepts within the ITER magnetic fusion facility now under construction in Cadarache, France.

She also has been involved in neutronics and materials damage simulations at LLNL in support of the Natioanl Ignition Facility and of high-energy accelerators. From 2006 until early 2010, Reyes took a leave of absence from LLNL to join the ITER Organization in France to support the project through the performance and coordination of safety analyses and associated documentation in preparation for ITER licensing.

FPA Special Awards have been given periodically since 1980 to recognize individuals who have made a special contribution to the cause of fusion power development. Anl award will be given to Meier in recognition of his "many contributions to advancing the science, technology, and integrated assessments of potential fusion power plants, and for broad support of the fusion community in leadership positions within the ANS and IEEE," as well as his role on journal editorial boards.

Meier has been a leader in advancing the science, technology and integrated assessment of IFE power plants since the mid-1970s. He has been involved in virtually every major study, working on chamber design, nuclear analysis, systems integration and modeling, cost assessment and optimization. These studies span all driver concepts including laser, heavy-ion and pulsed-power approaches.