Under secretary for science reports on NIF review

摘要

Steven Koonin, the Department of Energy's under secretary for science, has begun quarterly reviews of the National Ignition Campaign, which is centered on experiments intended to achieve fusion ignition at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. NIF uses neodymium-glass lasers to implode target capsules of fusion fuel. On March 10, Koonin—himself formerly a researcher in inertial confinement fusion—issued a brief report on his observations from a session with NIF personnel on January 24. One such observation: "Progress on specific challenges is encouraging enough that progress toward ignition should accelerate in the near future."