Lawrence Livermore National Lab to test plutonium using NIF laser

[bananas]

http://www.mercurynews.com/jobs/ci_27119177/lawrence-livermore-lab-test-plutonium-using-nif-laser

Lawrence Livermore National Lab to test plutonium using NIF laser
By Jeremy Thomas
12/12/2014

LIVERMORE -- Lawrence Livermore Lab will start testing plutonium using the world's largest laser at the National Ignition Facility, beginning in early 2015.

The experiments, according to the lab's Primary Nuclear Design Program director, Mike Dunning, will attempt to re-create the behavior of plutonium under conditions present in nuclear weapons without resorting to underground nuclear testing.

Funded by the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, the $3.5 billion facility -- a giant laser comprised of 192 beams that can be focused and fired onto a target about the size of a poppy seed -- has a dual mission of achieving fusion ignition and supporting management of the nation's nuclear stockpile.

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Scott Yundt, staff attorney for nuclear watchdog Tri-Valley CAREs, said the experiments herald a sea change in NIF's focus and will hamstring research because the laser chamber will need costly and time-consuming decontamination, leaving little time for any other type of science.

"It's a major shift in the program at NIF and the intention of the facility," Yundt said. "Doing these plutonium experiments puts major constraints on (NIF's) ability to also be doing civilian fusion energy research. It makes the focus of the facility ... only on nuclear weapons research."

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[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. Hmmm.

Have to ask my buddy who works out there if he's allowed to discuss that when he's home for Christmas.