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Article: NIF-ty exercise machine: is NIF a fancy cross-trainer for weapon scientists, or a covert way to design new weapons. (National Ignition Facility for laser projects at Lawrence Livermore lab)
- Article from:
- Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
- Article date:
- September 1, 1995
- Author:
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Copyright informationCOPYRIGHT 1995 Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Nova laser at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is the most powerful laser in the world. But this year the Energy Department requested more than $60 million in planning and engineering money for a National Ignition Facility (NIF) to be built at Livermore--a $1.1 billion project that would be 40 times more powerful than the Nova.
As of late July, it looked as if Energy would get less than it asked for, but still enought to get the project under way. If the NIF is eventually funded and built--Livermore says it could be completed by 2002--it would consist of 192 laser beams designed to fire simultaneously at a tiny pellet of tritium and deuterium, heating it to 200 ...