Conceptual Design of the National Ignition Facility
Conceptual Design of the National Ignition Facility

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2001

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

DOE commissioned a Conceptual Design Report (CDR) for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in January 1993 as part of a Key Decision Zero (KDO), justification of Mission Need. Motivated by the progress to date by the Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) program in meeting the Nova Technical Contract goals established by the National Academy of Sciences in 1989, the Secretary requested a design using a solid-state laser driver operating at the third harmonic (0.35[mu]m) of neodymium (Nd) glass. The participating ICF laboratories signed a Memorandum of Agreement in August 1993, and established a Project organization, including a technical team from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), and the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester. Since then, we completed the NIF conceptual design, based on standard construction at a generic DOE Defense Program's site, and issued a 7,000-page, 27-volume CDR in May 1994.2 Over the course of the conceptual design study, several other key documents were generated, including a Facilities Requirements Document, a Conceptual Design Scope and Plan, a Target Physics Design Document, a Laser Design Cost Basis Document, a Functional Requirements Document, an Experimental Plan for Indirect Drive Ignition, and a Preliminary Hazards Analysis (PHA) Document. DOE used the PHA to categorize the NIF as a low-hazard, non-nuclear facility. On October 21, 1994 the Secretary of Energy issued a Key Decision One (KD1) for the NIF, which approved the Project and authorized DOE to request Office of Management and Budget-approval for congressional line-item FY 1996 NIF funding for preliminary engineering design and for National Environmental Policy Act activities. In addition, the Secretary declared Livermore as the preferred site for constructing the NIF. The Project will cost approximately$1.1 billion and will be completed at the end of FY 2002.

National Ignition Facility Design, Performance, and Cost
National Ignition Facility Design, Performance, and Cost

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 12

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A conceptual design for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) has been completed and its cost has been estimated by a multilaboratory team. To maximize the performance/cost ratio a compact, segmented amplifier is used in a multipass architecture. Many recent optical and laser technology developments have been incorporated into the final design. The Beamlet project has successfully demonstrated the new concept. The mission of ICF Program using the NEF is to achieve ignition and gain in the laboratory. The facility will be used for defense applications such as weapons physics and weapons effects experiments, and for civilian applications such as inertial fusion energy development and fundamental studies of matter at high energy density.

Conceptual Design - Polar Drive Ignition Campaign
Conceptual Design - Polar Drive Ignition Campaign

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 102

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) at the University of Rochester is proposing a collaborative effort with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL), the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), and General Atomics (GA) with the goal of developing a cryogenic polar drive (PD) ignition platform on the National Ignition Facility (NIF). The scope of this proposed project requires close discourse among theorists, experimentalists, and laser and system engineers. This document describes how this proposed project can be broken into a series of parallel independent activities that, if implemented, could deliver this goal in the 2017 timeframe. This Conceptual Design document is arranged into two sections: mission need and design requirements. Design requirements are divided into four subsystems: (1) A point design that details the necessary target specifications and laser pulse requirements; (2) The beam smoothing subsystem that describes the MultiFM 1D smoothing by spectral dispersion (SSD); (3) New optical elements that include continuous phase plates (CPP's) and distributed polarization rotators (DPR's); and (4) The cryogenic target handling and insertion subsystem, which includes the design, fabrication, testing, and deployment of a dedicated PD ignition target insertion cryostat (PD-ITIC). This document includes appendices covering: the primary criteria and functional requirements, the system design requirements, the work breakdown structure, the target point design, the experimental implementation plan, the theoretical unknowns and technical implementation risks, the estimated cost and schedule, the development plan for the DPR's, the development plan for MultiFM 1D SSD, and a list of acronym definitions. While work on the facility modifications required for PD ignition has been in progress for some time, some of the technical details required to define the specific modifications for a Conceptual Design Review (CDR) remain to be defined. In all cases, the facility modifications represent functional changes to existing systems or capabilities. The bulk of the scope yet to be identified is associated with the DPR's and MultiFM beam smoothing. Detailed development plans for these two subsystems are provided in Appendices H and I; additional discussion of subsystem requirements based on the physics of PD ignition is given in Section 3. Accordingly, LLE will work closely with LLNL to develop detailed conceptual designs for the PD-specific facility modifications, including assessments of the operational impact of implementation (e.g., changing optics for direct rather than indirect-drive illumination and swapping from a hohlraum-based ITIC to one that supports PD). Furthermore, the experimental implementation plan represents the current best understanding of the experimental campaigns required to achieve PD ignition. This plan will evolve based on the lessons learned from the National Ignition Campaign (NIC) and ongoing indirect-drive ignition experiments. The plan does not take the operational realities of the PD configuration into account; configuration planning for the proposed PD experiments is beyond the scope of this document.

Conceptual Design Report for the University of Rochester Cryogenic Target Delivery System
Conceptual Design Report for the University of Rochester Cryogenic Target Delivery System

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 103

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The upgrade of the Omega laser at the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics (UR/LLE) will result in a need for large targets filled with D[sub 2] or Dt and maintained at cryogenic temperatures. This mandates a cryogenic target delivery system capable of filling, layering, characterizing and delivering cryogenic targets to the Omega Upgrade target chamber. The program goal is to design, construct, and test the entire target delivery system by June 1996. When completed (including an operational demonstration), the system will be shipped to Rochester for reassembly and commissioning in time for the Omega Upgrade cryogenic campaign, scheduled to start in 1998. General Atomics has been assigned the task of developing the conceptual design for the cryogenic target delivery system. Design and fabrication activities will be closely coordinated with the University of Rochester, Lawrence Livermore National laboratory (LLNL) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), drawing upon their knowledge base in fuel layering and cryogenic characterization. The development of a target delivery system for Omega could also benefit experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the other ICF Laboratories in that the same technologies could be applied to NOVA, the National Ignition Facility or the future Laboratory Microfusion Facility.

Target Area Chamber System Design for the National Ignition Facility
Target Area Chamber System Design for the National Ignition Facility

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 6

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a proposed Department of Energy facility which will contribute to the resolution of important Defense Program and inertial fusion energy issues for energy production in the future. The NIF will consist of a laser system with 192 independent beamlets transported to a target chamber. The target chamber is a multi-purpose structure that provides the interface between the target and the laser optics. The chamber must be capable of achieving moderate vacuum levels in reasonable times; it must remain dimensionally stable within micron tolerances, provide support for the optics, diagnostics, and target positioner; it must minimize the debris from the x-ray and laser light environments; and it must be capable of supporting external neutron shielding. The chamber must also be fabricated from a low activation material. The fusion reaction in the target gives off neutrons, x-ray and gamma rays. The x-rays and gamma rays interact with the interior of the target chamber wall while neutrons penetrate the wall. In order to minimize the neutron activation of components outside the target chamber and to absorb gammas emitted from the activated chamber, shielding will be placed immediately outside the chamber. The target chamber contains the target positioner. The target positioner moves the target from outside the chamber to the center of the chamber and positions the target at the focal spot of the laser beams. The target positioner must be survivable in a harsh radioactive environment. The materials used must be low activation and have a high stiffness to weight ratio to maintain target stability. This paper describes the conceptual design of the target chamber, target postioner, and shielding for the NIF.

Conceptual Design of a Technology Development Facility (TDF).
Conceptual Design of a Technology Development Facility (TDF).

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1981

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

We have developed a concept for employing a single-cell mirror machine in a facility for testing and developing fusion reactor materials, components, and subsystems in a fusion reactor environment. Our approach is similar to that of the 1974 FERF study, except that we have added an auxiliary thermal-barrier cell at each end of the yin-yang magnet. In this way, we provide for plasma microstability by confining a warm plasma component between potential peaks at each end of the device (just as in the tandem mirror with auxiliary barrier cells) while we further improve confinement by the inherent reduction in ambipolar potential drop in the central cell.

Target Area Design Basis and System Performance for the National Ignition Facility
Target Area Design Basis and System Performance for the National Ignition Facility

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 10

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A description of Target Area systems performance shows that the target area conceptual design can meet its performance criteria. Before the shot, the target area provides a vacuum of 5 × 10−5 Torr within 2 hours. A target, cryogenic or non-cryogenic, is placed to within 1 cm of chamber center with a positioner that minimizes vibration of the target. The target is then aligned to d"7 [mu]m by using the Target Alignment Sensor (TAS) system. The viewers in this system will also determine if the target is ready for illumination. Diagnostics are aligned to the necessary specifications by the alignment viewers. The target is shot and data is collected. Nearly all tritium (if present) is passed through the vacuum system and into the collection system. The analysis that supports the target area design basis is a combination of careful assumptions, data, and calculations. Some uncertainty exists concerning certain aspects of the source terms for x-rays and debris, material responses to this energy flux, and the full consequences of the material responses that do occur. For this reason, we have selected what we believe are conservative values in these areas. Advanced conceptual design activities will improve our understanding of these phenomena and allow a more quantitative assessment of the degree of conservatism inherent to the system. However, the results of this preliminary survey of target area operations indicate an annual shot rate of 600 (for the mix of shots shown in Table 1) is feasible for this set of target area systems.

Use of the National Ignition Facility for Defense, Energy, and Basic Research Science
Use of the National Ignition Facility for Defense, Energy, and Basic Research Science

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 31

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

On January 15, 1993, the Department of Energy (DOE) approved the Justification for Mission Need (JMN) for the National Ignition Facility (NIF). This action (Key Decision Zero, or KD0) commenced the conceptual design for the facility, which has resulted in a recently completed Conceptual Design Report (CDR). The JMN document defined the NIF mission elements to include laboratory fusion ignition and energy gain, weapons physics, and nuclear weapons effects testing research (NWET). NIF has a dual benefit by contributing to inertial fusion energy (IFE), industrial technology development, new basic science areas applying high power lasers, and training young scientists for future stewardship activities. For consideration of the next DOE action, Key Decision One (KD1), all mission elements of the NIF as stated in the JMN are consistent with and important to the US stockpile stewardship program, and are expected to continue to be in the vital interest of the United States for the long term. This document provides further information on the utility of NIF for stockpile stewardship, including support for a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), and specific findings of four national workshops on the NIF utility for weapons physics, NWET, IFE and basic science research. The role of NIF for stockpile stewardship has been refined since a DOE meeting in Albuquerque, NM Feb. 1--2, 1994. The possible compliance of NIF research with anticipated CTBT and NPT limitations was discussed at the DOE Office of Arms Control and Nonproliferation in Washington, DC on March 8, 1994.