U.S. Department of Energy, Oakland Operations Office, 1301 Clay Street, Room 700N, Oakland, CA 94612-5208

A -- OPERATION OF THE DIII-D NATIONAL FUSION FACILITY AND RELATED RESEARCH POC POC Aundra Richards, Contracting Officer, (510) 637-1901 E-MAIL: click here to contact contracting officer via e-mail, aundra.richards@oak.do.gov. The Department of Energy (DOE), Oakland Operations Office, intends to negotiate and award a five year contract on a sole source basis to General Atomics (GA) to continue to operate and maintain the DIII-D National Fusion Facility, located at the General Atomics San Diego site, and lead the national DIII-D program of toroidal fusion research. GA will perform work in three distinct task areas, integrating the effort with ongoing domestic and international fusion research. These task areas are: 1) leading the DIII-D national research program team and operating the DIII-D National Fusion Facility for the conduct of experiments that satisfy the objectives of the U.S. Fusion Energy Sciences Program; 2) planning for and implementing facility modifications and upgrades to DIII-D components and systems to allow these experiments to be conducted; and 3) assigning GA scientists to other domestic and international activities in order to gain access to the maximum intellectual capability in support of fusion energyscience in general, and the national DIII-D program in particular. Another task, as a contract option, would be to shut down and disassemble the DIII-D device, and decommission and restore the research site. The DIII-D tokamak is a unique facility designed, developed, constructed, and operated for the DOE by GA. The mission of the DIII-D tokamak research program is to establish the scientific basis for the optimization of the tokamak approach, which is the most advanced concept for magnetic fusion energy production. The GA scientists and technical support staff represent a unique reservoir of specialized talent for operation and use of the DIII-D facility. GA's aggregate set of capabilities in fusion science is required to promote innovation and progress in this critical area of energy research. This research will permit the U.S. Fusion Energy Sciences Program to develop the necessary knowledge base and advance the state of fusion science for economically and environmentally attractive future fusion energy sources. **** (0021)

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