The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) facility designed to create extreme conditions like those in stars in the laboratory in order to help maintain the safety, security, and reliability of the US nuclear deterrent without a return to underground testing. LLNL made history on Dec. 5, 2022, when an experiment at NIF reached scientific breakeven and fusion ignition, with an experiment that used 2.05 MJ of laser drive energy to produce 3.15 MJ of fusion yield. This groundbreaking achievement enables new capabilities for a safe, secure, mand reliable nuclear deterrent while also providing critical data that helps establish a viable development path toward laser-powered inertial fusion energy.
Students from the Las Positas Community College physics department will tour NIF on May 10. The tour will be led by Dr. Felicie Albert (director of LLNL’s Jupiter Laser Facility), who will be joined by Dr. Frank Graziani (director of the LLNL’s High Energy Density Science center) and Dr. Veronika Kruse (workforce coordinator for LLNL’s Inertial Fusion Energy institutional initiative).
