[ RadSafe ] The National Ignition Facility

[Cary Renquist]

Not exactly rad protection, but should be of general interest to the
list.

A great photo spread (27 pics) of various components of the NIF -- lots
of big pictures on one page so it will take a bit of bandwith...

The National Ignition Facility
"Creating a miniature star on Earth" is the goal of the National
Ignition Facility (NIF), home to the world's largest and highest-energy
laser in Livermore, California. On September 29th, 2010, the NIF
completed its first integrated ignition experiment, where it focused its
192 lasers on a small cylinder housing a tiny frozen capsule containing
hydrogen fuel, briefly bombarding it with 1 megajoule of laser energy.
The experiment was the latest in a series of tests leading to a
hoped-for "ignition", where the nuclei of the atoms of the fuel inside
the target capsule are made to fuse together releasing tremendous energy
- potentially more energy than was put in to start the initial reaction,
becoming a valuable power source. The NIF has cost over $3.5 billion
since 1997 and is a part of the federally funded Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory. Scientists at NIF say they hope to achieve fusion
by 2012. (27 photos total)

The National Ignition Facility - The Big Picture - Boston.com 
http://j.mp/cMVaqI


Best regards,
Cary

--
Cary Renquist
cary.renquist at ezag.com
crenquist at isotopeproducts.com