The Frontiers of Nuclear Science: A Long-Range Plan

In a letter dated July 17, 2006, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science for Nuclear Physics and the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate charged the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee (NSAC) to “conduct a study of the opportunities and priorities for U.S. nuclear physics research and recommend a long range plan that will provide a framework for coordinated advancement of the nation’s nuclear science research programs over the next decade.” This request set in motion a bottom-up review and forward look by the nuclear science community. With input from this community-wide process, a 59 member working group, which included the present NSAC members, gathered at the beginning of May, 2007, to develop guidance on how to optimize the future research directions for the field based on the projected resources outlined in the charge letter from DOE and NSF. A new long range plan—The Frontiers of Nuclear Science—grew out of this meeting. For the last decade, the top priority for nuclear science has been to utilize the flagship facilities that were built with investments by the nation in the 1980s and 1990s. Research with these facilities has led to many significant new discoveries that have changed our understanding of the world in which we live. But new discoveries demand new facilities, and the successes cannot continue indefinitely without new investment.