NIF’s Value Questioned, Affirmed

Edward Moses replies: We must respectfully disagree with the opinions of Stephen Bodner. His views of the National Ignition Facility, Nova, and the US nuclear weapons Stockpile Stewardship Program are well known. During the many reviews that preceded the authorization of the NIF Project, Bodner expressed his concerns to the committees. These committees, and those that succeeded them, have continued to support NIF.

Bodner’s representation of Nova neglects to mention that, in addition to meeting its 30-terawatt performance goal, it completed 14‥000 shots over its 14 years of operation. Nova was the world’s premier high-energy density physics experimental facility, where the highest quality data in hydrodynamics, plasma physics, materials science, and inertial confinement fusion were generated and the first x-ray laser was demonstrated. Over 1000 journal articles were produced and a generation of laser and laser-plasma physicists was trained.

Bodner states that NIF’s specifications have been “watered down” and the NIF prototype laser, Beamlet, never met its performance requirements. In fact, Beamlet demonstrated full energy, full power, temporally shaped ultraviolet laser pulses. All aspects of Beamlet design and operation were reported in 31 journal articles. Our Beamlet experience gives us high confidence that NIF will meet its full performance goals.

Bodner raises the question of whether NIF scientists will show good judgment as future stewards of the nation’s nuclear stockpile. History speaks for itself. During the past 25 years, the very same people who developed and used similar facilities are now an integral part of the nation’s Stockpile Stewardship Program, committed to maintaining its safety and reliability without weapons testing. State-of-the-art facilities like NIF are needed to draw and challenge the best-qualified scientists. NIF will play a vital role in our national security while pushing the boundaries of experimental and theoretical science.

Numerous reviews conducted by the NAS, DOE, and the University of California uniformly support the view that NIF can meet its technical and scientific goals. The NIF team is working to ensure this will happen.