The National Academy of Sciences Stockpile Stewardship Inertial Confinement Fusion, Science, and Advanced Simulation and Computing Campaigns

1
The National Academy of SciencesStockpile
StewardshipInertial Confinement Fusion, Science,
and Advanced Simulation and Computing Campaigns
What about Inertial Fusion Energy?

• Dr. Chris Deeney, Assistant Deputy Administrator
  for Stockpile Stewardship
• Office of Stockpile Stewardship, NA-11
• December 16, 2010

2
NNSA Program Management Assessment of Ignition

• Great progress is being made on NIF
• JASON appropriately highlighted the technical
  challenge
• Layered capsule implosions are underway
• The present execution plan will have D-T
  experimental studies in early FY12
• Other ICF concepts are also making progress
• Direct drive at Omega and Polar drive on NIF have
  produced excellent results
• Pulsed Power has made progress with various
  Direct drive and Indirect drive designs

Omega Laser Facility
NIF
Z Pulsed Power
3
Future ICF Strategy

• Post-NIC, delivery to the Stockpile Stewardship
  Program, including uses of ignition will be a
  focus
• We plan to maintain all our HEDP premier
  facilities as well as intermediate scale laser
  and pulsed power facilities
• We will maintain an investment in next generation
  / advanced fusion concepts
• Shock- and fast-ignition, indirect drive with
  green, direct-drive, and pulsed-power fusion can
  be studied to achieve higher outputs and gain
• There will be balanced but smaller investments
  compared to the drive for ignition and the
  balance and level of investment will be informed
  by stewardship experimental needs

4
Benefits to NNSA of an IFE Program

• Intellectual vitality
• Parallels the goals of our academic alliance
  program
• Challenges science, technology and engineering at
  the laboratories
• System solutions with multidisciplinary science,
  technology and engineering is what we do
• Technology benefits
• Investments in ignition concepts
• Radiation hardness and materials in extreme
  environments are synergistic with many missions
• Capsule and driver technologies will improve our
  facilities and/or reduce costs for future
  facilities

5
Opinions / Questions/Guidance needed from this
panel

• The NNSA ICF program management believes and
  demands technical competition in ICF and would
  want this in a future IFE program is this true?
• The IFE program should start broadly then focus
  over time
• Questions
• How broadly?
• How long to technology down select?
• How to maintain a back-up concept after down
  select?
• Driver technologies are probably equally
  important to other issues
• What other challenges are important (targets,
  first wall materials, tritium breeding, servicing
  and other operational issus)?
• Which can the Government invest in to get broad
  benefit, especially for energy missions?
• What metrics (hopefully feasibility and economics
  driven) can be used to inform downselects in the
  future?