ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Feb 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2026
Nuclear Technology
January 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
S. W. Haan, J. D. Salmonson, D. S. Clark, D. D. Ho, B. A. Hammel, D. A. Callahan, C. J. Cerjan, M. J. Edwards, S. P. Hatchett, O. L. Landen, J. D. Lindl, B. J. Macgowan, M. M. Marinak, D. H. Munro, H. F. Robey, B. K. Spears, L. J. Suter, R. P. Town, S. V. Weber, D. C. Wilson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 59 | Number 1 | January 2011 | Pages 1-7
Technical Paper | Nineteenth Target Fabrication Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST10-3723
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Targets intended to produce ignition on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) are being simulated, and the simulations are used to set specifications for target fabrication. Recent design work has focused on incorporating the implications of NIF experiments that were done in fall 2009 and planning for the campaign in 2010. Near-term experiments will use Ge-doped CH, although Be and diamond are still under active consideration for 2011 and beyond. The emphasis in this paper will be on changes in the requirements over the last year, the characteristics of the 2010 CH-ablator design, and the designs for 2011 and beyond. Capsule defects of particular interest are surface perturbations on the CH ablator and composition variations in the Be shells. Complete tables of specifications are regularly updated for all of the targets. All the specifications are rolled together into an error budget indicating adequate margin for ignition with all of the designs.