Contributions of the national ignition facility to the development of inertial fusion energy

The Department of Energy is proposing to construct the National Ignition Facility (NIF) to embark on a program to achieve ignition and modest gain in the laboratory early in the next century. The NIF will use a ≥1.8-MJ, 0.35-μm laser with 192 independent beams, a fifty-fold increase over the energy of the Nova laser. System performance analyses suggest yields as great as 20 MJ may be achievable. NIF will conduct more than 600 shots per year. The benefits of a micro-fusion capability in the laboratory include: essential contributions to defense programs, resolution of important Inertial Fusion Energy issues, and unparalleled conditions of energy density for basic science and technology research. The authors have begun to consider the role the National Ignition Facility will fill in the development of Inertial Fusion Energy. While the achievement of ignition and gain speaks for itself in terms of its impact on developing IFE, they believe there are areas of IFE development, such as fusion power technology, IFE target design and fabrication, and understanding chamber dynamics, that would significantly benefit from NIF experiments