Stephen O. Dean

Stephen O. Dean is an American physicist, engineer and manager who has worked on the development of fusion for energy and other applications for over 50 years.

Career

In 1966, Dean co-authored the Atomic Energy Commission’s (AEC) Policy for Controlled Thermonuclear Research.^[1] In 1976, he led the preparation of the Fusion Power by Magnetic Confinement Program Plan^[2] this provided the basis for the Magnetic Fusion Act of 1980; which was signed into law by Jimmy Carter. In 1979, he co-founded Fusion Power Associates,^[3] a non-profit scientific research and educational foundation. He has served as president of the foundation since that time. In 2013, he published the book Search for the Ultimate Energy Source – A History of the U.S. Fusion Energy Program.^[4]

Education

Dean received his BS in physics from Boston College in 1960 and an SM in nuclear engineering from MIT in 1962. He joined the Atomic Energy Commission as a staff member in the Controlled Thermonuclear Research Branch of the Research Division. In 1969, he transferred to the Naval Research Laboratory as a Research Physicist in the Plasma Physics Division. While there, he completed his doctorate in physics from the University of Maryland (1971) and performed early experiments on laser-plasma interactions.^[5] He returned to the AEC in 1972 and became Assistant Director for magnetic confinement Systems in the CTR Division. AEC evolved into the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) in 1976, and then into the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) in 1978. Dr. Dean became Director of the (magnetic) Confinement Systems Division of the Office of Fusion Energy (OFE). In that capacity during the 1970s, he oversaw the construction and operation of several new, large fusion facilities at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and General Atomics. In August 1979, he left government and co-founded (with Alvin Trivelpiece and Nicholas Krall) Fusion Power Associates.^[3]

Member

• 1972-1979 US Fusion Power Coordinating Committee (FPCC)
• 1974-1979 US-USSR Fusion Power Coordinating Committee
• 1980s:
  • Member, USDOE Mirror Fusion Program Senior Review Panel
  • Chair, Fusion Advisory Committee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
  • Member, Fusion Visiting Committee, Argonne, National Laboratory
  • Member, Fusion Visiting Committee, Ontario Hydro
  • Member, Light Ion Fusion Review Committee, Sandia National Laboratories
  • Member, Inertial Fusion Review Committee, Lawrence Livermore Lab
• 1991-1994 Member, USDOE Fusion Energy Advisory Committee (FEAC)
• 2002-2003 Member, USDOE Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC) subpanel for preparation of a 35-year plan^[6]

Honors

• 1960 US Atomic Energy Commission Fellowship to MIT
• 1972. US Naval Research Laboratory Research Publications Award
• 1976 ERDA Special Achievement Award
• 1977 ERDA Special Achievement Award
• 1979 USDOE Certificate of Appreciation
• 1987 Elected Fellow of the American Nuclear Society
• 1988 USDOE Distinguished Associate Award
• 1992 Listed in Who’s Who in America, 47th edition
• 2000 USDOE Distinguished Associate Award

References

1. AEC Policy and Action Paper on Controlled Thermonuclear Research. AEC Report TID-23277; posted http://fire.pppl.gov/US_fusion_policy_1966.pdf ; also published in J. Fusion Energy 30, 2o7-237 (2011).
2. Fusion Power by Magnetic Confinement Program Plan. ERDA 76-110 (July 1976), posted at http://fire.pppl.gov/us_fusion_plan_1976.pdf ; also published in J. Fusion Energy 17,263 (1998).
3. http://fusionpower.org
4. Search for the Ultimate Energy Source – A History of the U.S. Fusion Energy Program. Springer (2013). ISBN 978-1-4614-6036-7.
5. Phys. Rev. Lett. 26, 1012 (1971), 27, 487 (1971), and 29, 569(1972).
6. “A Plan for the Development of Fusion Energy,” posted at http://fire.pppl.gov/fesac_dev_path_final_rpt.pdf

Publications

• “Laser Fusion: The Future Gets Closer,” Optical Spectra (November 1980).
• “Closing in on Fusion,” Chapter 6 in Nuclear Power: Both Sides, edited by Michio Kaku and Jennifer Trainer. Norton (1982).
• “The Coming Age of Fusion Power,” Leaders Magazine 11, No. 4, 150-152 (1988).
• “Commercial Objectives, Technology Transfer and Systems Analysis for Fusion Power Development,” Journal of Fusion Energy 7, 25-48 (1988).
• “An Accelerated Fusion Power Development Plan,” Journal of Fusion Energy 10, 197-206 (1991).
• “Pilot Plant: An Affordable Step Toward Fusion Power,” Journal of Fusion Energy 11, 85-98 (1992).
• “Plasma Science and its Applications,” Journal of Fusion Energy, 17, 67-74 (1998).
• “The Future Potential of Nuclear Power: Fission and Fusion,” Journal of Fusion Energy,” 17, 151-154 (1998).
• “Fifty Years of Fusion Research,” Nuclear News, American Nuclear Society, pp 34–40 (July 2002).
• "The Rationale for an Expanded Inertial Fusion Energy Program,” J. of Fusion Energy 27, 149-153 (2008).
• “Historical Origins and Development of Fusion Research,” Chapter 31 in the Nuclear Energy Encyclopedia, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2011).